An Angel Wronged
by cleopatra1
Summary: They have been betrayed and are out for revenge to those who have hurt them. Who will make it out alive? Adult themes maybe suggested. Major couple: Liason (liz and jason). Please read and review.
1. Default Chapter

An Angel Wronged

Prologue

They knew they were risking everything being here, but they had to see this for themselves. It was just too hard to believe. Why would they, the few people she let in betray them? It didn't make sense to them.

So the only way they would really know is to see it for themselves, it was the only way they was going to really understand it was happening.

She waited in the dark corners, waiting for the young couple to meet, as they were scheduled to. They didn't disappoint them, the young woman came first and minutes later the young man came.

They smiled at each other and greeted each other with a small peck on the lips. They cringed with anger. They weren't going to get away with this, they promised.

The woman was overly nervous they thought, for being so comfy with each other. The man grabbed her hand and pulled her down next to them on the wooden bench.

They shared more words, laughing quietly, apparently enjoying each other's company. The man reluctantly excused himself to get back to work a half an hour later, for he wore a suit, one that had seen better days.

The woman looked around, hoping to see someone come. After a few minutes of waiting they gave up and walked away with a deep sigh.

The stranger's eyes burned with anger and betrayal. "Stay happy for now and enjoy it for you two there will be no happy ending, I'll make sure of that." They threatened, whispering the threat to the air surrounding her.

"For all your pain you have given me, yours will be doubled." They finished, turning away as the steps of another came known. They quietly sped away; hurrying to start the pain and suffering the couple would endure.

Please tell me your comments on the prologue and over this story. And if you must say something bad, please don't say anything at all. I don't appreciate flames and it hurts to think my writing is bad. Constructive suggestions are welcome however, just no flames.


	2. Chapter 1

An Angel Wronged

Chapter 1

Author's note: Hey, thanks everyone for the voice of support, this story is really in planning to say the least. Now that prologue is done I can get to the story notes.

This is going to be a liason story, don't doubt that, but there's a few complications in between them getting together.

A reviewer suggest a carly/Steven thing, I'll try to get that in, but in truth the sonny/carly/mob thing is unplanned as of yet.

The biggest thing you need to know is that this takes place before Emily (Natalia) came back to Port Charles, so about two years past, when Zander/Liz was together. I might change major things that happened then, for I really have no idea what was happening except the zander/liz thing, which I note, really didn't like. Feel free to tell me if anyone remembers what was happening then. It'd be a big help.

If there is anything else I need to add, you will know, and don't be afraid to ask anything that relates to the story.

Now onto the story……..

Jason sat in the desk chair, looking over some files that Sonny wanted him to look over, but didn't really see the words. His mind was wandering. It wandered on about everything from his love life to his family life to his working life. Most of his entire mind wandered to a girl turned woman.

She had been through a lot and was still standing tall. One of the many things he loved about her. The blue-eyed, brown haired woman had a permanent place in his mind.

Jason sighed a big sigh that echoed through the empty penthouse. With a screech Jason pushed back the chair, closed the file, and grabbed his keys. He was going on a walk, he decided. It was no use to sit and try to absorb the wanted information.

He walked down to the docks but stopped as he saw her and her boyfriend sitting on the bench, laughing and talking to each other. She was smiling, showing her white teeth that looked perfect with her facial features.

He stood there a few moments more, watching his angel. They said goodbye reluctantly, as the man left to go back to wherever he came from. His angel still stayed there, taking in the beauty of the water and the peace that went around with it, her eyes straying occasionally.

Were they looking for him? He wondered. He usually came at this time for a quiet walk, to keep some inner peace that he didn't find too often with his job.

His angel moved to check her cell phone as it vibrated, for he didn't hear any ring tone. She answered it after she checked the caller.

"Hello?" She asked as if uncertain.

"Meet you at Kelly's? At four o'clock? Okay, I can do that, see you then." She said, and then grabbed her purse, putting her cell phone back in there. She left, her heels clicking on the wood loudly.

That was then he decided to come from his hiding place. He swore he heard another movement, but decided it was just him. No one else was around.

He went down the stairs and sat down where she was previously at. Her perfume was still there and he took a moment to appreciate it. It was the only reminder that he couldn't have her, that it was too dangerous, personally and with his work. That fact tugged at his heart painfully.

After a few more moments, he found his head clear again. He could go back and study that file with absorbing the information. And that was what he did, for the past presence of her started to bother him too much again. With a quick step he was up the stairs and heading towards the towers again, to the empty penthouse, that he should call a home.


	3. Chapter 2

An Angel Wronged

Chapter 2

Elizabeth stood at the docks in the chilly afternoon, waiting for her boyfriend to show up. He promised to meet her here during his lunch break earlier, when they had time to talk.

Her boyfriend, she felt so guilty about calling him that. She felt like she was betraying Emily, Zander said she wasn't because Emily broke up with him long ago. But no guys really know the rules of friendship.

The top rule of friendship was that you didn't date/sleep with/ go out with, choose what you want, your friend's ex no mater what. So why is she? Why hadn't she told Emily yet? She deserved to know. But Elizabeth guessed she didn't have the courage or the strength to think of the consequences.

Elizabeth knew that Emily wouldn't mind Zander moving on; Emily told her she broke up with him so he could find happiness. She believed he wouldn't find happiness being tied to a paralyzed woman, coasts away. But the only thing she wouldn't be happy about, sure she'd act like it for their sake, but Emily would be really angry because it was her and that she hadn't told her. Emily hated being lied to, and this was what she was doing.

Elizabeth sincerely hoped Emily would get past it. Elizabeth valued their friendship dearly as she did Jason's, Emily's adoptive brother, but Jason didn't she guessed. He ignored her like the plague, to say the least. It tore at her heart.

Besides she was supposed to care for Zander, not pin for her best friend's brother. Thank goodness Zander didn't figure that out.

Elizabeth quickly cut out those thoughts as she heard footsteps coming towards her. IT was Zander, coming from work at ELQ. Elizabeth thought he looked quite nice in the suit he wore, but didn't say anything on it.

They had a small talk, and enjoyed each other's company, before Zander had to go back cause of some emergence. God knows what it was if it was the Quartermaines.

This left Elizabeth in bitter silence, the cold wind blowing around her. Elizabeth decided to wait to see if Jason would come by. She waited an half an hour before giving up. It was obvious he had something else on his mind, certainly not her.

Elizabeth sighed as her heart lost all hope of something romantic coming between them. Her self-pity was saved by her vibrating cell phone. She found it, checking who was calling before answering with a "Hello?"

"Hey, Liz, I know this is short notice but can you meet me and Nik at Kelly's later?" Lucky asked, getting to the point right away with a small greeting.

"Sure, what time?" Elizabeth asked, welcoming a meeting with her male friends.

"How about four? Does that sound good to you?" Lucky proposed.

"That's sounds good, see you at four then." Elizabeth mentally put a reminder to herself. Lately she had been forgetful, more that usual.

"Yeah, see you then. Bye." Lucky said and waited until Liz said the same thing before hanging up.

Elizabeth got up to leave and did after one last look for Jason's presence. Shaking her head, she walked towards home to get ready to meet Nikolas and Lucky.

Around four o clock later, Elizabeth walked through the door and made her way toward the table where, Lucky and Nikolas waited.

"Hey, did I make it on time?" Elizabeth asked as she sat down in the empty chair waiting for her warmth.

Nikolas looked at his Rolex. "Does two minutes late count as on time?" Nikolas joked and all three of them had a might laugh at Elizabeth's expense.

The laughter died down and they centered on why they were here. "Okay, since were all here, have you heard from Emily lately?" Lucky asked.

Nik was the first to answer. "I talked to her a couple weeks ago, but I doubt that counts as lately." He said.

"I haven't either." encouraged Elizabeth.

"Me either." Lucky echoed and stopped right there. He continued on with why he asked this question even if Emily was all their best friends. "It's not like Emily to stay silent this long." Lucky justified.

"Your right, its not, but what can we do about it Lucky? Emily has a different life than we were here. She's not in Port Charles with us, and she has more friends, a different system. It's not like she lives here and has to be in direct contact." Elizabeth reasoned.

"I know that, Liz, but something isn't right, okay? I can feel it, something is wrong." Lucky continued to insist Emily was in danger.

"Lucky, I hate to insult your instinct for I know it's strong, but you're wrong. If something was wrong, wouldn't I and Liz feel it too?" Nik also reasoned.

"Maybe, but I've known Emily longer." Lucky pursued his feelings and then stopped trying to go from this from a different angle. "Look, when you last talked with Em, how was she?" Lucky asked.

"Well, she was pretty vague, but overall good, on our last phone call, but that might be because Gia was around. You know Gia and Emily, civility only goes too far." Nikolas replied.

"I haven't noticed either from Em's last phone call." Elizabeth put in.

"You wouldn't notice Elizabeth; you were probably too worried that she'd ask about Zander's new girlfriend, which I note would be you." Lucky pointed out selfishly, but he was stuck on Emily needing to know at all costs.

Nik was as well. "Lucky has a point, you need to tell her, you can't put it off anymore, and you'll have to live with the consequences of dating your best friend's ex and not telling her. You got yourself into this mess; you can get yourself out of it."

Nikolas and Lucky were obviously adamant of Elizabeth facing her actions. Elizabeth felt like she was being bullied on, but understood. They cared for Emily too.

Elizabeth was about to respond as her cell went off. All three looked at her expectantly and Elizabeth gulped as she found it and answered it without looking at who was calling in fear.

Author's note: I got more reviews! I'm so excited, thanks so much, I'm starting to feel better about this story. Hopefully another update will happen soon, but who really knows? Please keep reviewing optimistic thoughts! They're appreciated.


	4. Chapter 3

An Angel Wronged

Chapter 3

Previously…

Elizabeth was about to respond as her cell went off. All three looked at her expectantly and Elizabeth gulped as she found it and answered it without looking at who was calling in fear.

"Hello?" Elizabeth croaked nervously. The two boys waited patiently to see who it was and if it was who they were thinking.

Moments later, Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, it's only you Gram." Elizabeth spoke and the boys just shook their heads at Liz, disappointed.

The boys listened to the conversation closely. "I didn't mean it like that." Elizabeth insisted, and they snickered softly, finding the situation funny.

"I'm at Kelly's with Lucky and Nikolas." The conversation continued. "You're going to do the night shift for Miriam? Okay, so you're not going to be home till the morning? Okay, see you then, love you too." Elizabeth ended the conversation.

Lucky and Nikolas waited a second after she ended the phone call to start bursting out loud with laughter. She gave them dirty looks, seeing nothing funny. "What?" She demanded.

After getting control of themselves, Lucky answered. "You should have seen your face; you were so scared that you were nearly stuttering!" They burst out laughing again when they relieved the moment.

A few minutes later Nikolas got a phone call of his own and had to leave. Lucky and Elizabeth hung around for a few minutes more before Lucky had to go himself, leaving Elizabeth all alone. Elizabeth paid the bill, complaining that was the male's job, and left.

Elizabeth walked to the docks again, passing the Quartermaine mansion as she did. She stopped to admire and look at it, thinking her best friend was going to come out. She eventually realized that it wasn't going to happen when reality hit and walked the rest of the distance to the docks without noticing anything.

There, Elizabeth admitted it; she was ashamed of herself and missed Emily dearly. She had Lucky and Nikolas, but face it, Emily was her only female friend. She cared for Nikolas and Lucky as far as friendship went, but sometimes male friends don't understand, that stuff reserved for the female friends.

She didn't know why, but the females here didn't care for her too much, Emily had the similar problem, but not as much as her. Emily was likable and eventually she warmed up to people, the females anyway, she somehow got every guy's attention. The minute she walked in the male attention was on her. From what she heard of when Emily first came to Port Charles, she made friends with all males, the older females respect, but anyone near her age and of the female gender, no. In fact he only enemies Emily truly had been of the female gender.

It's not surprising that they started that way. She was jealous of Emily. Emily had everything in her mind: money, power, and the males' complete attention. She stayed like that for a while, before Tom came around. The more Elizabeth knew about her during that period, she found out Emily's life wasn't all glamorous as she thought. The result a friendship she had never known would be so great.

All of Port Charles found, eventually, the best friendship you could have is one with Emily. Some haven't figured that out yet, but it was the truth. When Emily was on your side, you couldn't lose. She was down to earth and knew bad by the definition. If she could have one friend in the world until you die it would be Emily. She is fiercely loyal and a good listener. Sometimes a little selfish and attentive, but who wasn't occasionally? Even she had her moments.

And here she was here now, finally realizing this and she was this close to losing that friendship. But it also gave her strength to face the consequences. Waiting to tell Emily will only make it worse, so she took out her cell phone and dialed the familiar number that she knew by heart because they called each other so much.

Elizabeth waited patiently for Emily to pick up, hoping she would talk to her at least. Truthfully, she was worried. She acted like she wasn't at Kelly's because it was how she felt. The longer Emily stayed away, the longer she didn't know of her relationship with Zander. She feels differently now though.

Elizabeth frowned and sighed when she got Emily's mail box. She waited until it was done to record a message.

"Emily, its Elizabeth. Call me, everyone is worried, you've been much too quiet lately and that isn't like you. Listen, I need to tell you something important that is going on here in Port Charles, and it doesn't feel right to tell you in this message. It's better told when were connected and at least talking. Call me ASAP, okay?" Elizabeth practically begged as the message length ended.

Disappointed, Elizabeth went home to wait for her to call even though a part of her knew Emily wouldn't.

Author's note: Hey, another update. Sorry, I couldn't get this done before, life is busy. Not much to say except to continue giving your support to this story by reviewing, it's very much appreciated.


	5. Chapter 4

An Angel Wronged

Chapter 4

Elizabeth sat at the desk in her room, waiting for the phone to ring. She had tried keeping herself busy, but found she couldn't stop looking at the once silent cell phone. Why, when she wanted it to be silent it wouldn't, and when she wanted it to ring, it would stay silent? She wondered.

She had eaten, and tried doing some of her homework, but found she couldn't concentrate. Her mind wandered. She could always read, but that had the same problem. That was kind of a bummer too, because she had recently bought the novel she wanted for a while, but now found the book storylines too much like her life.

It was about two friends fighting over a man. She and Emily weren't exactly fighting over a man, but the previous events in the story reflected what was happening, though Emily didn't know it. She was at the point of not knowing, but starting to figure it out. In the book anyway, in reality, she didn't know, which was why she was waiting for her to call. To find out what is happening.

Lost in thought, Elizabeth jumped when her cell phone in front of her rang. She picked it up after getting control of her nerves again.

"Hello?" She said, hoping it was who she thought it was.

"Elizabeth, I have great news!" A woman screamed something Emily wouldn't do unless it was with anger. But then again, Emily wouldn't start a conversation with it either No the person on the phone wasn't Emily, but her sister Sarah. Elizabeth's heart fell, but she wouldn't let Sarah know that.

"Hey Sarah. What's the great news? You're acing physics?" Elizabeth joked lightly, knowing Sarah wouldn't be. It was a pain so complicated she couldn't understand, Sarah insisted.

"No, but I am hanging on to a C." Sarah said proudly, for that was an accomplishment when it came to her.

"So what's the good news then?" Elizabeth wondered out loud, into the receiver of her cell.

"Brandon proposed!" Sarah screamed again, or was it screeched? Either way, Elizabeth had to tuck the phone away from her ear.

"Proposed? Like marriage?" Elizabeth asked, in shock. She wasn't sure why Brandon proposed this early in their relationship. They had only been going out for a couple months, a half a year tops.

"Yes, marriage! He proposed marriage! Can you believe it? I'm getting married!" Sarah answered again, screeching like the blonde she was again. Elizabeth could imagine Sarah even jumping up and down, enough to get the downstairs apartment to call the manager.

"I hate to burst your bubble, but isn't it a little early in your relationship to get married? Even engaged?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah I thought that too, but I love him and he's the one? You know?" Sarah explained her early engagement in detail.

"Yeah, I do." Elizabeth said her heart tore at the thought "her one." Too bad he didn't think she was the "one."

"You are talking about Jason?" Sarah asked, catching her sad tone, near sigh.

"Doesn't matter." Elizabeth dismissed the topic, not wanting to talk about it for the sake of her heart.

"It does too! If you care for him, fight for him!" Sarah persuaded her to go for her man.

"Like you did with Nikolas?" Elizabeth asked, knowing how that went.

"That's different." Sarah insisted, still a little embarrassed for that.

"Um-hum, sure." Elizabeth agreed sarcastically.

"Anyway, you were hoping he would call?" Sarah asked, obviously changing the subject.

"Hoping he'd call? What makes you say that?" Elizabeth asked, playing dumb about her behavior.

"It was obvious you were expecting someone to call" Sarah answered.

Elizabeth considered denying that statement, but didn't. "Your right, I was waiting for someone to call, but it wasn't Jason." Elizabeth answered truthfully, though she believed Sarah wouldn't believe her.

"Who was it then?" She asked, interested. "Your mystery boyfriend?"

Elizabeth kept who she was dating from her parents, sister and brother. The last thing she wanted was another lecture of dating your best friend's ex-boyfriend. The few she received she didn't like as it was.

"No it wasn't him." Elizabeth truthfully denied.

"I'm going to find out if you don't tell me." Sarah taunted her.

"I doubt you could. The only ones who can tell you are my friends and they pretty much hate your guts." Elizabeth said matter of factly, with good reason, Liz thought but didn't say that.

"I have my sources; anyway, I'm having dinner with mom and dad, so I have to go." Sarah said.

"Good lucky telling them about your engagement." Elizabeth said, knowing what her parents would do. Her mom would be so happy, for grand babies and getting to organize a wedding, and her father would glare at the news.

"Thanks, I'll need it." Sarah replied and hung up.

Elizabeth gave a sigh and settled down on her bed, tired. She assured herself that it was just a small nap. Five minutes max, she told herself, and soon she was asleep.

Later that night, the phone rang three times when no one answered and showed no signs of doing so, the person hung up before the machine could take over.

The next day, Elizabeth woke early and was shocked to find it morning, or close to. The sun was rising, sunny and bright.

Then it hit her. She fell asleep! She wiped the sleep from her eyes and reached for her phone. One missed message, it read. Elizabeth checked who it was, and almost fainted with relief almost shock, a little angry with herself for not hearing the phone. Her one chance was gone, but at least she could tell Lucky and Nikolas.

Meanwhile, Gia Campbell stood in the foyer, after returning home. She let herself in and almost fell with all the baggage sitting on the floor, near the entrance of Wyndemere. Gia smiled, Mrs.Landsbury was gone at last, or will be.

She called her name and Mrs. Landsbury came out of the kitchen passing her, giving no attention to her. Angry, she stepped in front of the woman, blocking her path.

"I'm glad to see you leaving, but that doesn't mean you can be rude about it." Gia remarked, being a little conceited.

"On the contrary Ms. Campbell, I'm not leaving. You are." Mrs.Landsbury fixed her view of things

"Excuse me?" Gia asked shocked at what she's hearing.

"Those bags are yours and officially I don't have to listen to you anymore. Good luck carrying those down the driveway and into your car; their heavy." Mrs. Landsbury pointed to the bags, explaining their place and left.

"You mean I'm being evicted? From my own home?" Gia called out to the leaving form of Mrs. Landsbury.

"It's not your home, it's my home and I want you out." Nikolas announced, coming down the stairs. "There's your stuff, all of it. Leave or I will call security to help you out."

"And the engagement?" Gia asked, lost and confused.

"Broken." Nikolas said simply, heading for the dining room to have breakfast.

"You're not going to want my ring?" Gia asked, following him into the dining room.

"No, I am not going to give my soul mate my ex-fiancée's ring, besides you'll need to sell it because you need to pay your car, insurance, phone bill, and you need to find a place to stay and live." Nikolas said, waiting patiently for breakfast to arrive.

"What? You're cutting me off? I don't even make that much money to pay for all that stuff." Gia complained, but Nikolas blocked it out.

"Your problems, not mine, deal with it." Nikolas said, asking as if she wasn't there.

"How can you do this to me?" Gia asked, trying out her acting skills on Nikolas. She bent over him, wanting answers and him back apparently.

"I'm not the one having an affair." Nikolas said and smiled when the aura of eggs came from the door.

"I'm not having an affair." Gia denied dramatically.

"Where were you last night?" Nikolas said, stating the obvious. Gia was wearing the clothes she wore yesterday.

"You have no proof." Gia argued relentlessly.

"I have plenty of proof. Non-doctored pictures, his phone number and address, and my private investigator's word." Nikolas told her.

"You had me followed?" Gia asked shocked at what Nikolas did.

"You weren't exactly discreet." Nikolas pointed out coldly.

"I don't believe you." Gia decided to play the innocent act, though it wouldn't change Nikolas's mind.

"You don't? Okay, fine I'll give you straight out information about your boyfriend. His name is Jamal, he's a graduate student, studying medieval history, and he works as a cook at the steakhouse. He lives at Parkview towers, in apartment number seven, and his phone number are…" Nikolas said continuously until Gia screamed for him to stop.

Gia paled considerably during his rant of information about her lover. Gia knew it was a losing cause and turned into the foyer, but as she went she heard Nikolas's other doings.

"By the way, I called him up and told him you have been playing him too Your not welcome there anymore and you have no men to run to, your on own, financially as well." Nikolas called to her.

Gia went to his side to scold him angrily, but he talked first. "For future knowledge, you show your face here again and I'll press charges, on trespassing, and believe me I'll make sure they'll stick and give you so much misery." Nikolas informed her.

Gia knew defeat when she saw it, and left the dining room, confronted with one other problem. Her bags, she wouldn't be able to lift them by herself. "Aren't you gentleman enough to help me with my bags?" She called to him.

Nikolas shouted from the other room. "No, good luck though, their heavy. Here's a tip though, try dragging,"

Gia gave the back of him the evil eye. She can't drag them, they would get worn out and the red leather smell would go. They cost a fortune and she wouldn't ruin them.

Nikolas smirked with victory, watching from his back eye as she thought about how to get them out without dragging. She loved them too much, like her high-heeled boots.

While Gia fought with her suitcases, Nikolas enjoyed a delicious breakfast, finally free of the burdenwith the name Gia.

Author's note: Hey everyone. Yes, here it is a chapter. I hope you like. Be happy you nem fans, cause you have a nem story. I'll get with that coupling soon. Please tell me your thoughts on this chapter; they're appreciated as were they before.


	6. Chapter 5

An Angel wronged

Chapter 5

Author's note: Hey everyone, I need to notify you of a small change I've made in this story. I have pushed up the months. It is now May. Elizabeth and Zander have been dating for about three or four months, and Elizabeth has had plenty of time to tell Emily.

Elizabeth's heels clicked on the wooden planks that made the dock as she passed, obviously in a hurry. As soon as she had found out Emily called, she dressed quickly and went in search of Lucky. Since he was the one who was closest to Emily, because they had known each other longer, and he was the one who mentioned Emily being way too quiet.

She came down the stairs, and speed walked across it, needing to get to Lucky fast. He usually leaves early for work, and this needed to be told right away. It was good news or a start at least.

She surprised herself when she ran into someone. The person must be strong and tall because she felt like she hit a wall of bricks. She didn't fall, with the other person's help also.

She felt so embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was………" Liz stopped as she saw who she ran into. "Jason." She said that word and felt her heart start beating wildly again.

Jason looked down at her, and said nothing. He had his same emotionless face on as usual.

Elizabeth flushed in embarrassment. Of all the people to run into, she thought.

However, Jason was thinking about the same thing. I knew I should have stayed away, he criticed himself. It's better to keep your distance, the only way to really stop you from grabbing and kissing her senseless. They couldn't happen, wouldn't happen. He cared for Elizabeth and because he cared so damn much, he had to deny himself her. It wasn't fair to either of them, but he had to state facts. She needed to be safe and for her to be that way, she had to be away from him.

"Elizabeth." Jason finally acknowledged her.

A tense silence fell between them. Their eyes met and looked away. It was obvious there was an attraction between them; A denied attraction in Jason's and Elizabeth's point of view.

Elizabeth found the quiet much too unsettling, so she made conversation. "Are you working?" She asked, knowing it was a dumb question with a definite answer. Jason was always working.

"Not at the moment." Jason responded firmly, as if she was unwanted. He wanted her to go for both their sakes.

Elizabeth was surprised, but she still decided to give her heart a break and continue with her journey. "Oh, I shall not distract you while you have a break then (they come so few and far). Excuse me." She said and stepped around him, not an easy thing to do give Jason's size.

His unexpected question startled her and made her jump. "Where are you going in such a hurry?" He asked, curious, craving her presence now, all of a sudden.

"I need to find Lucky." Elizabeth answered, condoning his presence.

"Lucky? Don't you already see him everyday?" Jason asked, a little jealous of the attention he gave her.

"Well, yeah, but this is really important." Elizabeth insisted.

Jason's brows rose with curiosity. "And what's so important that you running in heels of all things?" Jason found some humor in the observation.

Elizabeth felt a little embarrassed, but didn't show it. "I was in a rush this morning while dressing." She replied.

Jason nodded. "Heading towards Kelly's I suspect then?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, Lucky is probably in his room above Kelly's." Elizabeth answered.

"You mind if I walk with you? I have to go there anyway." Jason asked Elizabeth.

Elizabeth shrugged as if she cared little. "Yeah, sure, the company could be nice." She said, speaking the truth for once.

Silence ensued between them. It wasn't until it finally got to Elizabeth, she broke it. "Can I ask why you're going to Kelly's?" She asked.

Jason thought about it. It wasn't about business or Sonny, so he supposed so. Elizabeth would hear about it sometime though. She was his little sister's best friend, he thought so anyway. Elizabeth dating her ex-boyfriend and not telling Emily, whenever Emily hears about that, who knows what will happen? "Surprisingly enough AJ called yesterday."

Elizabeth halted in deep surprise. It was no big secret the brothers hated each other. So this was highly unexpected. "AJ?" Elizabeth asked in shock.

Jason almost laughed at her reaction. "Yeah, it surprised me too. He said to meet him at Kelly's in the morning, at seven." Jason told her.

"Why would AJ even want to talk to you? I mean there are no love between you two, at all." Elizabeth said then understood. "Oh, Emily."

AJ wanted to talk about Emily; it's the only thing that the two agree on. It's the neutral topic, most the time anyway. They did tend to fight about who was the better big brother, but AJ must be that worried if he called Jason of all people.

"Yeah Emily, our baby sister our only real link to each other. I think he went out to visit her in California and if he called me of all people that must mean something is happening." Jason didn't even bother hiding his worry. Everyone knew he cared deeply for his sister, adopted or not.

"Lucky got the same vibe." Elizabeth responded as they got to Kelly's.

Jason held open the door for her and they walked in. Lucky was sitting with AJ; apparently Jason wasn't the only invited person to this get-together. AJ met Jason with a forced neutral face.

"Jason." HE said coolly, and Jason took a seat. "Elizabeth, why don't you join us? Maybe you can get give some input." AJ invited Elizabeth, and while she did have to talk to Lucky, who was right there, why not? Besides a referee might just be needed with Emily's big brother's being there, together.

She sat down with the three guys. Lucky explained his presence. "AJ invited me as well when he saw me." Everyone nodded in response.

AJ got right into it. "So everyone knows I had business in California, and stopped by Stanford to see Emily." He started. "She was surprised to see me, but was happy to see me anyway." He told them.

"Was there any static between the two of you? I mean you did play a part in her and Zander's break up." Lucky asked curious, knowing Emily wouldn't be all that forgiving even to AJ.

AJ grimaced a little at that reminder. "Yeah, I'd say there was, but I don't think it was about that. Emily knows and probably will never forgive me for that, but she didn't bring it up and neither did I." AJ reported. He planned on avoiding that topic anyway.

Elizabeth tensed when the topic of Zander came in. "Did you tell Emily about…." She didn't need to elaborate. Everyone knew what she was talking about.

AJ gave a small glare of disagreement, because what she was doing, but didn't come off totally cold. "No, I didn't. I'm not going to cause that pain and betrayal to her. That's your job." AJ was a bit unforgiving in his response, but made his point.

Elizabeth stayed quiet. She had heard that enough and should have learned that better by now.

Jason felt like sticking up for Elizabeth, but knew what the facts were. Elizabeth knew what she was doing when she ended up dating Emily's ex and keeping it from her. He hated to admit, but she made that mess, she had to be the one to get out of it.

No one would help, knowing Emily. She was a town favorite, despite being a coast away. They were going to play no part in hurting Emily like that. It was no secret everyone had a small hate towards Elizabeth for her actions, which would no doubt hurt Emily, broken up or not. No one did that, especially to Emily of all people. Everyone believed she had gone through enough, for being so young.

AJ continued. "As I was saying, there was static between us. Emily was being more distant than usual. I have no doubt she was angry at me, but that wasn't the factor of her distance. It was something else. It wasn't me for once." AJ insisted, being a little descriptive.

This just was more evidence to Lucky's theory. Now he had reassurance. She was distancing herself from her friends and protectors. Something had to be happening. Emily had always tried keeping everyone she loved out of it, insisting she could take care of herself, not wanting them to get hurt because of her.

"Do you have any idea what it was about? Did she give any clue to as what it was?" Lucky asked, concerned.

"No, at first I thought it was school, its pressuring her, but she made it clear she had that handled. It's not her finances; she has that taken care of as well (not that she should, mind you, being an heiress and all). I then thought it would her love-life, but I can't say for sure if that was the problem. It sounded well enough, not a problem. But I believe it might have a small play in the problem." AJ explained.

"Emily's love life? I don't know AJ. Last I heard she broke up with this guy, but that was fine, because it was a civil breakup and are now friends. She said there was a small tension between them, but that's just because they are still exes. There's bound to be some, until they move on." Elizabeth disagreed.

She knew the story. Emily and this mystery guy were better off friends, Emily said. She met this guy in one of her classes and he asked her out, but after a week, there were absolutely no romantic feelings between them, so Emily and the unnamed guy talked it over and thought it better they break up and only be friends. It was the best arrangement, from the sounds of it. They were better off friends, and have got really close, but not even close to romance. No romance there, Emily explained.

"I'm not saying it's her love-life per say Elizabeth. Emily could easily find another guy; I mean they're always falling over her." AJ answered.

Elizabeth couldn't deny that. Emily was a guy magnet. She had no problem finding a date or boyfriend. It was probably a small problem for the big brothers.

AJ turned to Jason. "Has Emily called or talked to you lately? I mean she would usually come to you with her problems, more than me." This was true, Jason was always called the better brother, despite his work, but that wasn't an issue here.

"We've talked a few times, but nothing about some trouble she's been having. It's always about school or her job." Jason answered truthfully.

AJ frowned, and then turned to Lucky. "Okay, it's obvious something is happening and if she didn't tell Jason, that means something. Why don't you find out? I mean Emily has always told you her problems." AJ suggested, for Emily's sake.

Lucky shook her head. "I've tried calling her AJ. I can never reach her; she always has something going on. She's not talking to me, any of us for that matter." Lucky explained.

Elizabeth spoke up. "She called me last night. I was asleep though." She said.

Lucky looked at her. "She did? Did she leave a message?" He asked, interested.

Elizabeth shook her head. "No, she didn't. But that means she's still there, making some contact." She reported.

Lucky nodded. "Yeah, she is. But if this is as serious as it sounds I may have to talk Nik back into his plan." Lucky said cryptically. Damn, Lucky thought, it took Nik so long to back away from his proposal, and now he'd have to be persuasive. That wasn't going to be fun. Nikolas was a widely know arrogant man.

"His plan? He was thinking of going to see Emily?" AJ asked.

"Yeah, he was. I thought he was overreacting though and talked him out of it. I thought to give Emily some space, but I see that isn't working as much as it should now." Lucky replied. "I'll have to try talking him into it now." That's how the world works, doesn't it? Lucky thought.

"It shouldn't be that hard, I don't believe he's fully forgot it, but maybe all three of you shall go. I mean your Emily's closest friends; you must be able to get her to talk. But if you can't use Cassadine's jet, you're always free to use the ELQ one." AJ suggested.

"Thanks, it's not a bad back up plan, but I don't think that will be needed. Why don't we go and talk Nik into it Liz? We can stop by your place, let me get my travel bag, and were made for a trip." Lucky responded, standing up from the chair.

Lucky went upstairs and came back down with a bag, ready to go. He and Elizabeth left, leaving AJ and Jason. Jason just got up and left, AJ threw down a bill that would pay for their breakfast and did the same.

Author's note: I've had inspiration! Let's hope it keeps coming, for your sake. Please review, it might help my inspiration.


	7. Chapter 6

An angel wronged

Chapter 6

Elizabeth stuffed a shirt, a pair of jeans, and her brush into her bag, which was bordering on overload. She was a woman! She wasn't trained to bring the necessary. She couldn't really decide on what was necessary. I mean, wouldn't she need her make up? Her other needs, the stuff she'd rather not talk about with guys?

Lucky must be thinking the same thing. She had left him downstairs, to wait for her, but she knew by now his patience was tested, especially since AJ's words. It's worrying him as much as her.

She finally admitted that she had enough and with some effort, got it closed. She then took her cell, real quick and left a message for Zander, saying not to worry, that'd she be okay, and she'd be home soon.

She quickly scribbled a note for gram and they left and made their way towards Wyndemere.

Liz started slacking on the way there. It was the bag. "You know you could offer to carry my bag, it'd be the gentlemanly thing to do." Elizabeth commented.

"I'm not the one who packed it too full!" Lucky objected, having a good laugh at her expense.

Elizabeth mocked him, "I'm not the one who packed it too full." Lucky laughed again and led the way, her lagging behind.

They got on the launch, and were transported to the island, only to find a huffy Gia struggling with her luggage.

"Going away for a modeling trip, Gia?" Lucky asked, though he suspected Nikolas dumped her, good. She was a real brat when you saw through her looks, and realistically, looks was the only thing she had. There were definitely no brains in that head of hers, or else she would have noticed the wheels on the luggage could be used.

She gave him an annoyed and furious look. "No, your brother dumped me!" She spat at him, still fighting the suitcase unsuccessfully.

"Yeah, well, that is what happens when you cross a Cassadine." Lucky shrugged, and passed her up, not going to spoil the fun of seeing Gia in one of her blonde moments, though they come often.

Liz followed, finally finding control of her bag. They heard Gia's cries of help, but ignored her completely. They'd blackmailed their best friend and were playing with Nik. It was all deserved, they reasoned. And best of all, she was out of their hair! She was an annoying son of a female dog!

They knocked and found it open. They walked in and found the whole first floor empty, absolutely no servants. It was very hard to believe.

Lucky looked at Liz and then yelled, in a question "Nikolas?" The call echoed off the walls.

Mrs. Landsbury came down the stairs in a bit of a hurry. "Master Nikolas is in his room." She told them. "He wishes not to be bothered." She finished.

Lucky ignored Mrs. Landsbury request and passed her. Elizabeth watched him pass the housekeeper and followed, but not after telling the housekeeper, "We're sorry to disobey his orders, but this is urgent." She explained and ran after Lucky who was already up the stairs. He really took his and Emily's friendship seriously.

Elizabeth barely made it up the stairs, when she heard a vicious knock. She picked up her pace. Lucky obviously didn't know she wasn't keeping up or was just sure that she'd catch up.

"Nikolas?" Lucky called, knocking a second time. "I know your there. Nikolas, open this door or else I'm using my picklock." He threatened, still no answer.

Lucky was picking the lock when Elizabeth came to Nikolas's door. "Lucky!" She said astonished. "What are you doing?" She demanded.

Lucky shrugged. "The obvious. I'm picking the lock to my half-brother's room." He explained as if it wasn't a big deal.

Elizabeth saw it as such. "Lucky, stop it." She ordered him.

Lucky looked at her, in surprise. "Stop it? You want me to stop it? Why?" He asked, amazed.

"Because picking a lock when it's absolutely necessary and picking a lock when its not, is two different things." Elizabeth explained.

Lucky looked at her as if she was an alien. Since when did Elizabeth care about right or wrong? She was the rebel of the group, though that was contradicted with some of Emily's crazy stunts.

"Elizabeth, I know you're reluctant to tell Emily about Zander, but she needs our help. I can feel it." Lucky blamed Elizabeth's sudden angel act on her reluctance to see Emily, so she would have to tell all.

"That isn't it Lucky. I know she does, AJ's report just justifies your feelings, but breaking in Nik's bedroom? I don't think Emily's in that much trouble, besides I don't even thinks she wants it. She would have told us what was happening if she wanted outside help." Elizabeth reasoned.

"Or maybe she's too afraid to ask for help. Come on Liz, you know Emily. She hides everything, tries to keep everyone safe, until its absolutely necessary, in which is why it's absolutely necessary to pick Nikolas's bedroom lock." Lucky persuaded her.

"Fine, but on one condition, let me try getting Nikolas to open the door without force, at least. If he doesn't answer or open the door, you can pick the lock and use force." Elizabeth compromised.

Lucky strolled away from the door, inviting Elizabeth to try to get Nikolas to open up, though keeping his lock pick, it'd need to be used, he knew. Nikolas was not going to open up his door and invite them in, despite Elizabeth's attempt.

"Nikolas?" She called and knocked two times. No answer. She tried again. "Nik, it's me, Elizabeth. Open up, we need to talk." She said reasonably.

Lucky watched her performance. It was quite good, almost believable, if she put a little more effort into it. Elizabeth backed off the door. Lucky was right, unfortunately. "Fine, work your magic." She gestured to the wooden door.

Lucky smiled and did as she said. Soon the door was unlocked and propped open.

Nikolas's bedroom was masculine looking with few personal effects, with the exception of his friends and family. It was designed in reds, and was not a "room fit for royalty", despite Nikolas's title.

It was original, like it was rarely inhabited, a guest room you would think if you didn't see the pictures. The walls empty, not one painting surprisingly (the rich tended to buy paintings to show of wealth), the furniture not exactly antiques, covered with dust anyway. Obviously, Nikolas wanted no one in his room, even the cooks, or the housekeeper.

The attached bathroom was empty, as the bedroom was. Nikolas was gone.

"Where could he have gone?" Elizabeth wondered.

Lucky shrugged. "I don't know, but I theorize the airport, instructing his personal pilot to fly to California." Lucky guessed.

"To Emily? Without us?" Elizabeth couldn't explain the betrayed feelings she was feeling. "Maybe he's just in the secret passages, another room perhaps." She suggested.

Lucky gave Liz a strange look. He walked towards the door. "Come on, we have to get to the airport before Nikolas takes off." He said and Elizabeth followed and they sped to the airport to catch Nikolas.

They went to the private plane area of the airport and looked around to find Nikolas, waiting for the plane to be fueled. They found no such thing.

"Where could he be?" Elizabeth asked Lucky. Maybe he would know.

"I don't know Liz, maybe he's on the plane, maybe not." Lucky looked around some more. He wasn't desperate enough to ask an employee of the airport for verification of Nikolas's presence. "Maybe I'm wrong." Lucky pondered this for a moment, but shook his head, he couldn't be. "No, wait I'm not—hey, who's that, over there? Talking on the cell phone, in the corner?" He pointed towards the man. The man's back was to them, so they couldn't conclude anything.

"You think Nik was expecting us?" Elizabeth asked, instead of answering Lucky.

"No, why?" Lucky asked, confused and then figured out where Liz was going. "Wait, I take that back, if AJ called Nikolas too, maybe. He could have been invited and not have come so he would probably figure out that we were going to be there, and if AJ wants to talk to us, it'd be about Emily; something bad about her, if AJ is that desperate to call us of all people, and Jason for that matter." Lucky didn't account for the feelings between those two. They've always had some sort of attraction, and it was about time it was accounted for, now why now of all times, who knew?

"Hey, Lucky. There he is." Elizabeth pointed to the man in the corner, who just finished up with his call. The person Lucky had been pointing to. "Come on." She went over to Nikolas and left Lucky.

"Yeah, I pointed him out first, genius." Lucky muttered, a little annoyed that Liz didn't take his word for it, but had to see it for herself.

He followed and all three joined up. "It took you long enough." Nikolas commented.

"Well, thanks for the head up." Lucky answered with sarcasm.

"I thought you'd like to use that brain of yours." Nikolas joked.

Lucky didn't have the patience for an insult, but took it anyway. "Yeah, well, ditto. I mean you finally lost that brat, so yours must be working took." He commented instead.

Nikolas didn't take that as an insult surprisingly enough, just blew it off. "Yeah, well, I don't see any loss. Maybe Jamal did, but…" Nikolas shrugged as if he didn't care. "Never mind, want to get going?" He asked in place of the topic of Gia.

"Yeah, sounds good. You can tell us about the breakup while were on the plane, we might need entertainment." Lucky joked and led the way, leaving an annoyed Nikolas and an indifferent Elizabeth.

They followed and settled themselves on the plane. For it being a private plane, it had absolutely no luxuries. Lucky pointed this out, as the plane took off.

"So Nik where's the expensive stuff that would make this a private plane?" Lucky asked, curious. Elizabeth was thinking much the same thing, ironically enough.

"I had it destroyed years ago" Nikolas told him and settled down for the flight.

"Why?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well, for one thing, it was absolutely useless, and two, Helena was the one who put all that stuff in here. That wasn't my decision. If I did, I'd probably have put in an entertainment system." Nikolas explained.

"I'm afraid now to ask what it looked like before." Elizabeth commented.

"You really do not want to know. It was absolutely horrible." Nikolas swept his thought away from what it used to be. He much preferred the more commercial plane look.

"Ah," Lucky said, getting comfortable. "So what happened with the break up? What made you finally lose the bimbo?" Lucky asked, looking for juicy details of the breakup like a girl.

"Jamal." Nikolas started and felt absolutely no pain over the breakup. He must not have been as in love as he thought.

Lucky signed for details. "It was her boyfriend, and before you ask, no he wasn't part of Gia's grand scheme." Nikolas told him.

"Gia's grand scheme? Let me guess. You paid her bills, and she looked for another to spend her attentions on." Lucky asked for an answer.

"Right on." Nikolas approved his answer.

Elizabeth asked, "How did you find out about her unfaithfulness?"

"She wasn't discreet Elizabeth. She was always late and had some really poor excuses, even if she had one." Nikolas explained, it was pretty obvious from the start really, but he didn't really care. Gia thought she was so good, but in actuality, he was just planning the break up, the revenge all that time. She was going to learn not to cross a Cassadine.

"How long had you know of her indecencies?" Elizabeth asked, curious. From the sound of it, he'd known all along, just pulling Gia's tail, waiting to strike.

"It was a little after we got engaged, and it was pretty easy to figure it out." Nikolas replied.

"So why did you late so long to dump her?" Lucky asked if it was him he'd dump her immediately.

"Lucky, have you ever heard of waiting and going in for the punch?" Nikolas asked. "I was planning my revenge. Gia didn't expect a thing, and you know the best part?" He asked evilly.

"What?" Lucky asked.

"Tomorrow is when Gia's bills are due." Nikolas revealed.

Elizabeth and Lucky caught on in shock. You didn't see a vengeful Nikolas often; they'd have to mark it on the calendar. "I can't believe you did that." Elizabeth commented, amazed.

"Me either." Lucky added.

"It's not like me, huh? Yeah, well, Gia had it coming. And she's not going to have any idea how to pay them. She's going to be so broke." Nikolas was tempted to laugh evilly, just for effect.

"What about Jamal, her boyfriend?" Elizabeth asked, missing that one part of his plan.

"That's who came up with the plan. I had the resources, he had the ideas." Nikolas explained. "He was the genius of this plan. He took it harder than me and he can be very vengeful I found out."

"So what did you do in all?" Lucky asked, impressed.

"Well, Jamal came up with the idea to not pay her bills, and dump her the day before they were due. Furthermore, he suggested draining all her money sources. So her credit cards were denied, the little money she had in the bank was taken, and she used all her paychecks, in which she just got paid, to spend lavishly. She's absolutely broke, unless she sells her car, her engagement ring and her other stuff. And I highly doubt she has five dollars in her wallet for a temporary motel room." Nikolas explained the extent of their partnerships.

"So she's broke, and about to be thrown to the streets?" Elizabeth asked, amazed again. She shook her head, not fully comprehending everything. "I sure hope her car is capable to sleep in, because there's no way that will take her. Even Kelly's won't hire her." She had got a bad rep at Kelly's for being a spoiled slob, and everywhere else for the most part. She was playing the part of the model pretty good. She wondered if she was a cheerleader back in high school, who learned that from the upperclassmen, or just been like that since birth.

"Yeah, and it would be even worse if she got so angry she came back to Wyndemere, which will probably happen." Lucky hinted.

"That's taken care of. Security and the hired help know if she was to show her face anywhere on that island, she would be arrested for trespassing and fined, maybe she'll spend a few nights in jail." Nikolas guessed.

"I don't know that'd be fun to see. Miss spoiled brat in a jail cell, complaining of the orange jumpsuits. Can you imagine that? She'd be all complaining it doesn't match her shoes." Lucky got a good laugh at that mental picture.

"Maybe, if that happens, we could take a picture and send it to the newspaper. The headline: Top model jailed for trespassing." Liz laughed at that mental picture.

"You haven't heard the worst part. I overheard the guys at deception talking about firing her. Apparently they found a better face, her attitude much better than Gia's." Nikolas added.

All three laughed at Gia's expense. She was about to get what was coming to her. And they had to admit, this time payback would be sweet.

Soon they arrived in California, got their bags, and a rental car. From the airport they drove for miles, up until it was close to sundown, with the traffic. They were riding smoothly down a dirt road, a shortcut to Emily's apartment, before the car started stuttering.

Nikolas pulled over and Lucky over the damaged. "So, how's it looking?" Elizabeth asked, a few feet away from Lucky.

Lucky came out with a frown and reported his conclusions. "The engine's dead. I'm afraid were stuck until someone comes through."

Nikolas and Elizabeth didn't want to hear this. "Stuck? Why can't we call for help, I have my cell phone." Elizabeth suggested, pulling out her cell.

Lucky shook his head. "There's no traction with all these trees, save your batteries, and the chance of a car passing by is unlikely." Lucky explained.

"So what do we do?" Nikolas asked, really not happy to hear this.

"The only thing we can do, camp out." Lucky said, seeing no other way out of this.

Elizabeth paled. Nikolas found he really didn't like this either. "Are you crazy?" Elizabeth asked. "I am not camping out!"

"Me either!" Nikolas objected.

Lucky just smiled and taunted them. "Ah, do the prince and princess have problems with camping?"

"Yes, I do." Elizabeth said proudly. "You have any idea how many bugs there are on that ground? And what if it rains?" She asked, scared.

"Then we'd better find a good spot to build a tent." Lucky started digging around in the back of the car, looking for some useful tools in building a tent.

"Oh, no. Forget it. I'm not staying here, stranded like a hamster in a cage." Elizabeth objected.

Lucky called from the back. "Okay, then, why don't you walk who knows how many miles towards civilization." He suggested.

Elizabeth looked down to see what she was wearing. There was no way she'd make it with heels. She was stuck, camping with millions of slimy bugs on the ground.

"He has a point Nikolas. We'd never make it. We have to…." Elizabeth paused and gulped. "Camp out in the wilderness." She finished.

Nikolas nodded, preparing for the worst. The international prince, who had money to spare, was going camping. God, help him.

Author's note: Sorry, not one of my best chapters, but the next one should be interesting. Elizabeth and Nikolas camping, what horrors could happen?

And just so you know, yeah, Nikolas wouldn't be this evil; I just really hated the character of Gia and wanted to get some fictional payback. So if this seems odd, it's all that author's doing. And people wonder why I go by the name evilcleo….


	8. Chapter 7

An angel wronged

Chapter 7

Previously: Camp out in the wilderness." She finished.

Nikolas nodded, preparing for the worst. The international prince, who had money to spare, was going camping. God, help him.

Digging through the back of the car, Lucky remembered he saw a camp bag in the trunk before they put their luggage in it. It must be here.

Eventually Lucky gave up. It obviously wasn't here. "Damn!" Lucky said frustrated as he took out his stuff, and slammed the trunk closed.

"What's wrong?" Liz asked, looking up from her sulking, a little worried. They didn't have a flat tire too, right? That would be just great at this point.

"I thought I saw a tent back here, but I was obviously seeing things. My bag didn't hold one either." Lucky told her.

"So, what does that mean for us?" Elizabeth was almost too afraid to ask, she really didn't want to know.

"We'll have to do with sleeping bags." He reported to her and she was slow to react.

"Let's get this stuff set up." Lucky said, annoyed that Emily has to wait at least another 12 hours to see them, even if they wouldn't exactly be welcome at this hour. It was late and he forgot which time zone California was in.

Then Elizabeth reacted to what Lucky was saying finally. "Oh my, oh no! No way in hell. I can not, will not sleep on the ground full of bugs and dirt." Liz said determinedly. Lucky didn't seem like he was joking, in fact he was plain serious. "Spencer, are you crazy?" Liz asked as she sensed this.

"Liz, chill out. If I can do this, so can you." Nik said coming back after scoping the ground and intentionally straying from their royal highness, Elizabeth the pain in the butt.

"You're siding with him? Yeah right, Nikolas! You have no idea what I have to go through, will have to." Liz said. She obviously didn't want to give camping a chance.

Nikolas just rolled his eyes, sick of her whining. "Yeah, yeah, yeah Liz, I'm sure it will be that bad" Nikolas said not convinced. Actually thinking, 'Whatever, jeepers fright I'm

sick of you complaining, would you shut up yet? We get your feelings already.'

He really couldn't wait until we see Emily. Maybe she'll talk some sense into Elizabeth. Of course, that was a maybe considering what she had to tell Emily. There was sure to be some screaming, cussing and maybe, just maybe, a catfight. Depending on what mood Emily was in.

As if quickly reading Nik's thoughts, Lucky nodded and grinned. That was how they sent a message to each other, or with their eyes. 'Yeah, a catfight, one I do not want to witness!' Lucky seemed to be saying and went back to teasing Liz.

"What Liz? Scared of a few bugs?" Lucky teased her.

While Lucky did so, Nikolas, unbeknownst to Liz or lucky, became fascinated with a spider that just happened to be non poisonous. He saw them every day in the depths and darkness of the tunnels in Wyndemere.

As Nikolas handled the spider, he snuck up behind Liz.

"What Liz scared--?" Nikolas started as Liz spun around to face him and his little friend.

"Ahhhh!" Elizabeth screamed. "Nikolas get that thing away from me!" Liz screeched as Lucky all of a sudden found him holding Liz from under her legs and around her

back as she practically choked the air out from him, arms squeezed tightly around his neck.

Lucky laughed as he put down Liz, who slapped him on the back of his head as he laughed at her expense.

"What's a matter Lizzie? Scared of a tiny spider? You never noticed them before in Wyndemere?" Lucky said while he & Nik were still laughing at Liz's reaction, making her look especially embarrassed.

"Jerks..." Liz muttered beneath her breath.

"What?" Nikolas & Lucky both said, mocking innocence.

"I'm arachnophobic!" Liz said, now very annoyed with the guys.

"Liz, as much as I hate spiders myself, they're not going to hurt anyone this one isn't even poisonous." Nikolas said.

"How do you know that?" Liz asked.

"It's called science Liz. Believe it or not when I was a little boy, through all my tutors and studying languages, I was transfixed with spiders. I just don't like them as much now." He told her, shrugging as if indifferent.

"Whatever! How long until the sun comes up and we can get out of here?" Elizabeth asked, almost begging.

"Liz, its only eight. So honey, get used to it." Lucky said with a southern drawl he liked to intimidate with.

Liz stomped over to where she laid her sleeping bag and got in, grumbling as she entered it while Lucky laughed again and made a fire for warmth, who knew what Mother Nature would bring.

Both guys just shook their heads thinking the same thing: 'Why couldn't Emily be here to balance Elizabeth out?' She would be able to. Emily may have been the princess of this group, but she acted like no princess. She was more masculine than feminine at times.

As they got in their sleeping bags, they all felt the one thing they least expected and dreaded most. When things couldn't get worse, it did.

Rain. It was raining. Of all the days!

That's the last time I listen to the weather reports on the internet! They lie just like the weathermen on television.' Lucky chastised himself.

Being smart on the boys part, they took out their baseball caps (yes Nikolas goes to games sometimes) and put it on their heads, while Liz whined about not having one - because she just got her hair into a perm and that it was getting ruined.

Lucky and Nikolas just listened to the rain fall and let it drown out their groaning friend and practically ignored her.

As the night progressed, Nik awoke a few times, driving Lucky almost as nuts as Elizabeth was.

"Lucky, Lucky what's that?" Nik asked, sort of freaked out.

"What? Nik it's just an owl...you've heard them before...relax..." a groggy and very tired Lucky said.

"What about that?" Nik said as he heard another noise. One that sounded more threatening to him.

: "Nikolas...that's a cricket...go back to sleep, nothing will hurt us - oh and there are no bears out there" Lucky said trying to go back to sleep again, making a mental note to use this for blackmail against him one day.

Liz had separated herself by being in the car, because she got tired of the rain but she knew it wasn't rather better - she felt lonely by herself and not having the guys protect her, and went back to her sleeping bag on the other side of the fire.

"Luck--" Nikolas started to ask.

"Nik - go back to sleep please! We're fine!" Lucky said irritated, about to pull his hair out in agitation.

A scream sounded near them, a girl's screams, and as the only one here, it must have been Elizabeth, the drama queen.

A smile grazed itself on Nik's face and he laughed, "Hey, Lucky?"

"Gee, I dunno Nik. I've never heard that noise before..." Lucky said smiling back with a chuckle, not in a real hurry to protect and serve the damsel in distress.

As the screaming continued, Nik and Lucky started to feel guilty and just wanted to make sure Liz wasn't actually in any danger raced to her sleeping bag.

"Liz! Elizabeth what's wrong?" Lucky asked, actually a little worried.

"Ewww! Get it off! Get it off! Get it away from me!" Elizabeth screamed loudly jumping around madly.

"What? What? Get what off and away from you?" Nik screamed trying to get a hysterical Liz to calm down and be heard for himself.

"Ewww...gross..." Lucky said as he brought the bag closer to the fire and shook it as tons of worms, maybe dozens and dozens fell out of it.

"It was the safest place - they wouldn't be drowned by all the rain" Lucky said trying to be funny.

Nik groaned - this was still going to be a long night and indeed it was. They couldn't wait until morning came and they were with Emily, who could probably make Liz calm down. You could say it was one of their worst nights of their lives thanks to the drama queen they brought along on this trip. Something they seriously regreted now.

Author's note: Okay, lame chapter, but also very entertaining. Thanks to evil but friendly rival for doing the rough draft (not that I had to do much persuading).


	9. Chapter 8

An angel wronged

Chapter 8

As the sun hit his face, Nikolas Cassadine groaned under its bright light rays. He made movements to get up but something stopped him. A dead weight was on lying on top of him. A dead weight with a name: Elizabeth.

Great, he thought. Why did Liz have to sleep on top of me? Why not Lucky?

Nikolas' efforts to sit up without waking up her were thwarted by Elizabeth's dead weight on top of him that was ever constant. For a woman with a small waist she was really heavy. He'd have to use that as blackmail if he ever got away from under her.

Worst of all, he was soaked, not to mention he was really tired and the last thing he wanted to do was wake up to this reality but the sun wouldn't cooperate.

As his eyes got adjusted to the light, and his surroundings, he noted his brother on the other side of Liz, his back toward them, curled into a ball. He was shivering just a little as well.

As Nikolas finally managed to gently push Liz off of him he shook his head. "Great, now Lucky could be getting sick, just what I and Emily or anybody needs…" He thought out loud, commenting. He's really had it with Liz, so much he wanted to…okay they needed to get to civilization quick and separate immediately before anyone of them does something they regret.

"Yeah, really," piped up Liz who had now awoken thanks to the soft chirping of birds.

Nikolas just rolled his eyes and staggered over to where Lucky was and he started to wake Lucky up. He tried calling Lucky's name, but that wouldn't wake Lucky so he started the pestering. He shook Lucky's shoulders and said, "Lucky, wake up." He insisted but no reaction. "Hey, Lucas Lorenzo Spencer Junior, wake up." Nikolas said knowing full well that'd make Lucky wake up.

"Hey, I told you to never use that name…" Lucky started objective, but paused slightly, "Uh…I don't want to…" Lucky found he was clearly groggy, stuffed up, and congested. Now that he was sick and didn't have any ammo, he didn't have the heart or the strength to punch Nik for calling him by that name. He flopped back down and closed his eyes.

"Come on Luck, time to see if we can get a ride the rest of the way to see Em." Nik said, shaking Lucky awake again.

Lucky's eyes opened again at Emily's name and he somehow found the strength to get up and face the day. He was sick, he was tired, and very much wanted to ring Elizabeth's neck after last night, but told himself Emily needed him and that granted him some strength.

Lucky simply nodded his head and started to walk toward the car as if he were the living dead, them staggering behind.

"If you expect me to…." Liz started but Nikolas, at the end of the rope with Miss Princess, interrupted her before she could start.

"Liz! Do not start! We are in no mood right now to hear you complain this early in the morning. Do us both a favor and wait at least a few hours Better yet, stuff it and say nothing." Nik said harshly but he didn't care at this point. Lucky couldn't handle it either.

"Yeah Liz. Please shut up and bring up all your complaints later." Lucky said, clearly exhausted as he leaned up against the dead car they drove in with.

"If Zander were here he'd be nice to me." Liz whined like a baby, ignoring their warnings.

"Liz, if Zander were here right now I don't know what I'd say to him, at this point I might just tie you both to a tree and leave you behind and leave you to deal with the wilderness alone. Unfortunately, I can't because it's your responsibility to tell Emily what happened between the two of you; no one else's and certainly not Zander's. He has a clear excuse, you don't." Lucky said very grumpy and sick, of Liz and in the physical sense as well.

"Lucky's right, Elizabeth. Now instead of Lucky and I unintentionally hurting Emily, it's your turn to fess up and tell her the truth!" Nikolas said, growing angry, well aware they gave Elizabeth the chance to shut up before they said something mean. He really was warming up to the idea of tying her to a tree and ditching her, Lucky had a genius idea there.

Elizabeth finally shut her mouth and said nothing. She looked a little threatened and sad but at the time they really could careless. They were best friends but there were moments they wanted to kill each other, and Elizabeth was the chosen victim this time around. They'd apologize later when they started caring again.

At Liz's look, Nikolas turned his head in disgust. He finally realized, and looking at his brother who realized the same thing, they've hurt Emily way too much when all they wanted to do is protect her. She's made enough of her own mistakes, and by trying to protect her the way they were, she ended up lashing out and making even more mistakes that hurt her worse than what would have been the original mistake. And with Liz being as stubborn as she was, she was going to break Emily's heart even more than it already was.

They went back to the road, got their bags and hitched a ride on the back of a farmer's truck which was filled with clucking chickens thanks to their luck.

Elizabeth tried making conversation, saying "Nikolas, Lucky…" She stopped as they looked at her giving her a few threatening and annoyed glares, signaling this wasn't the time to make conversation.

They got off in Stanford and from there hired a taxi to take them to Emily's apartment which they found to be resembling anything else than an apartment place.

It was a grand villa that was what it was. It was like the Quartermaine mansion except a little bigger. There was a round drive way in the front of the main building, with a small fountain in the middle of it. It had vast green yards and they guessed a vast garden entrance to the left of it. Some buildings connected to the main building laid next to it and there were some parking spaces; evidently the apartment area of the whole villa.

It also had high security they found out. All of it was surrounded by a tall black fence that looked practically impossible to climb. They were walking around looking for an entrance when a burly guard encountered them.

He looked at them threateningly, his arms crossed. "Is there a reason why you're snooping around?" He was very intimidating with brown hair that blew in the wind and had muscles that some would envy.

Elizabeth was frozen in fear and the guys as well, but Nikolas managed to snap out of it. "Uh, yeah, of there's a reason." He stuttered uncontrollably. "Our friend lives in the apartments here and we came for a visit, but we can't find a door or entrance way." He explained quickly.

The guard raised his brows at them, not slightly believing them but gave them a chance. "And the name of this friend you were coming to visit?" He asked gruffly.

"Emily," Nikolas started, finishing, "Emily Quartermaine."

The guard frowned slightly. "There isn't an Emily Quartermaine here, living in the apartments to my knowledge, but let me go look." He said and turned around and made his way to a guard booth near a driveway entrance.

He stepped in and looked at a clip board on the desk and shook his head. He came out with it in his hands, saying "There isn't an Emily Quartermaine here." He reported.

Elizabeth, Lucky and Nikolas looked at each other confused. "There must be." Elizabeth insisted. "This is the place and address she gave. Emily wouldn't lie to us about that." She persisted but the guard just shook his head.

Nikolas and Elizabeth turned to Lucky who had his grows rose, obviously in thought and then he hit himself on the forehead. He made a frustrated sound and turned to the guard.

"Our mistake, she goes by Emily Bowen now-a-days." Lucky offered the guard and he again looked over the list and nodded.

Elizabeth and Nikolas looked at Lucky, confused. "Emily Bowen?" Elizabeth asked Lucky.

"Yeah, Emily's an adoptive Quartermaine, remember?" Lucky asked them wondering how they could forget that.

Nikolas and Elizabeth looked at each other, ashamed they didn't remember that. They could always say Emily acted more like a Quartermaine so they forgot, but that was just an excuse. They should have known that.

Lucky turned to the guard. "Can we go in now?" He asked, wondering if Emily had a bed or some cough medicine that could help, when he let his mind wander.

The guard shook his head. "No, afraid not." He told Lucky briefly and looked away, probably hoping they'd leave.

"Okay, it's been a very long day and night, so would you answer why not?" Lucky said being a little rude but he was sick, cranky and was inwardly demanding answers. If Emily changed her last name it really must be serious.

"She isn't here." The guard said firmly.

"How can you tell?" Lucky asked.

"Her car isn't here." The guard responded looking around them.

"Again, how can you tell?" Lucky tried again, repeating himself.

"Because she is the only resident that doesn't have a flashy car, like a jaguar, porche or Ferrari." The guard answered him.

"I see could we perhaps wait for her?" Nikolas came into the conversation again.

The guard shook his head. "No, you can't." He replied firmly. "Come back again later." He offered when they tallied around.

"I don't suppose you know when she is coming back?" Lucky asked.

"I don't." The guard said finally and they accepted defeat leaving the area. They went to the nearest hotel and got two rooms, one for Liz one for the guys.

There, Lucky called Emily's cell phone but got no answer. He bit his lip nervously. Okay, now he was getting worried.

"She wasn't there?" Nikolas supposed sitting on the other bed patiently.

"No, she wasn't." Lucky confessed. "I'm getting worried Nik, with Emily not answering her cell phone and that name change…something is really not right." Lucky offered him sighing a little.

"Speaking of the name change, Emily Bowen?" Nikolas asked. "What happened to Quartermaine?" He implied.

Lucky shook his head. " A year or so ago, Emily and I were talking and she mentioned changing her name back to Bowen, to get some of her independence back, but I never thought she's actually do it." Lucky explained.

"So I suppose you have no idea how long she has been going by Bowen then?" Nikolas asked Lucky.

Lucky shook his head again. "No idea whatsoever." He rubbed his temples. "What's happening to Emily, Nikolas?" He asked, continuing with his questions. "And where were we when all this was happening? She's my oldest and best friend, what kind of friend was I while this was happening?" Lucky sighed.

Nikolas got up and sat next to Lucky. "Your not the only one Lucky, I was pretty much wrapped up with Gia until recently and Elizabeth…you know Elizabeth, she only listens to what she wants to hear." Nikolas tried to take some of that guilt off Lucky's shoulders.

"I suppose, but it's still so sad, I mean were supposed to be the four musketeers, best friends, but we were too stuck in our personal lives to notice and help each other. And now look at the mess were in!" Lucky shook his head and paced a bit. "But whatever trouble Emily's in now, Nik, it's big, I can feel it. Were going to really need to stop and help Emily, no matter our personal lives."

Nikolas nodded and Lucky didn't know how right he was.

A/n: Thanks to evil but friendly rival for helping me out in the beginning...maybe i should have you write it? LOL


	10. Chapter 9

An angel wronged

Chapter 9

Lucky stared at the ceiling, waiting for the phone to ring. Nikolas and Elizabeth had gone out to get something to eat, but he wasn't hungry so he just stayed here at the hotel room, all by himself.

This waiting for the call was starting to drive him mad. Here this was his oldest and best friend and he didn't know what was going on? They had faced everything together. He helped her through her mom's death, he ran away with her when she was indecisive about getting adopted by the Quartermaines. He even talked her into giving them a chance eventually, not that that ended up all well and good.

Then there was that brief thing in which he wasn't there and Emily got hooked on drugs and all of that Dorman mess, which he still felt extreme guilt over. But they got over that and he helped her until his "death" and in return when he returned home, alive she helped him out without question or doubt.

They faced those blackmailers together and she even got him to like Nikolas, who was now one of his closest friends and half brother. And that dead Ted mess, he was the first one she called and they made it through that as well. They fought over her relationship with Zander, sure, I mean he kidnapped her and got her into some major danger, but Emily knew he was just worried and was trying to protect her. But like all other times he did that, he got blasted because of it, well because that was Emily.

Emily was usually a good judge of character, unless you discount that Juan mess, and was very protective as well, which was probably what she was trying to do this time around. Protect them from the trouble she constantly got into and he knew Emily felt some real shame thanks to it.

She didn't mean to get into trouble, not at all. She just somehow ended up that way. No one blamed Emily at all, she couldn't control it, it just simply happened but that didn't mean she didn't feel so much guilt in dragging them into it.

That must be what's happening. Emily wouldn't hide things unless she meant well. And that was noble of her but they still wanted to help. Emily always tried getting out of it without reflecting others and getting them screwed, but she also knew when to ask for help, knowing full well it was too big for her to take care of her on her own. But that time hasn't come yet and it was driving him crazy.

He started pacing the room, agitated and worried that they came too late. He really couldn't handle it if he lost Emily. She was such a great friend to have despite her constantly collecting trouble. Overall that trouble was worth it to keep Emily as his friend.

It hadn't been the same without her since she moved away after that accident. He always had Nik and Liz, but it wasn't Emily. Emily was a very special character with a bright personality. She was never one to fail; it was as if she couldn't. Practically impossible, that's what it was.

He lay back on the bed and caught his breath and slowed down for his heart's sake. He was too active to keep up with him. He closed his eyes and found some peace, remembering the good things. The grape snow cones, the weekly Kelly's meetings, how Emily helped him unselfishly, so much he jumped up and scared his heart anyway as his cell rang.

He reached over for it and caught his breath again, putting the phone on his ear and saying "Lucky Spencer here." He said lazily, without looking at who it was.

"Spencer." A soft, warm voice spoke on the other end.

Lucky stood up and took a deep breath of relief. "Emily." He replied happily. No one could understand the relief he felt at hearing her voice, not even Nikolas and Elizabeth.

"Yeah, this is her." Emily verified on the other end.

He sat back down, cradling his phone. "So I suppose you got my call or that guard told you we came by." He guessed.

"The second option, but either begs the question what you are doing here." Emily asked, a bit rudely.

Lucky frowned. "What? Can't best friends stop by and try to visit their friend that they haven't seen in sometime?" He supposed innocently.

Silence fell as Emily probably thought on the other end of the connection. Finally she answered, "Yeah, its fine, Lucky, it'd be great to see you but everything you do always has an alternative motive. I mean you probably could have visited another time if you didn't." Emily told Lucky, a bit bitter about them not visiting her sooner. They certainly had the resources to come by.

Lucky frowned, knowing she was right. They really should have visited sooner but once again they had their personal lives. "I'm sorry Em, we got caught up in our lives and thought staying communicated through phone was just as good." He apologized to her.

"It's alright; we all have our moments in which we forget about others." Emily sighed on the other end. "So, the alternative motive is AJ I presume?" She supposed, thinking back to his brief visit. She knew he was going to snoop and tell her friends.

"He's worried about you Emily, we all are." Lucky insisted.

Emily made a small sound of doubt. "Yeah, right, AJ really cares for me." Emily felt like snorting, obviously highly doubting that. Since when has he cared, honestly, its all about him and his gains?

"He is Emily. He even talked to Jason. You have to admit that was monumental." Lucky persuaded her to believe him.

Emily was surprised at that but quickly shook it off. "Yeah, how touching." Emily was obviously being sarcastic.

Lucky quit trying to make AJ look good. He had probably thrown too much schemes and crap at her, especially that Zander lie, for her to honestly believe that. Jason, he was a good brother but he was always so busy thanks to Sonny wanting him to be the errand boy of his very busy business that he and Emily rarely spoke anymore thanks to that.

"Anyway, how are you?" Lucky asked, changing the subject.

"I'm fine Lucky, not that you want to believe me." Emily obviously knew that was happening. It happened often, she'd say she was fine and he'd accuse her of lying.

"Geez, Em. What's with the negativity?" He asked, a little held back. She usually was so happy.

Emily sighed. "I'm sorry Lucky. It's just very hard to be positive when life throws those unexpected curves at you. You kind of lose the optimism eventually if it's enough to temporarily knock you down." Emily explained.

Now Lucky was really worried. "Is everything okay?" He asked her.

"I'm not going to lie to you Lucky." She told him. "I'm fine, but everything's not okay." She exaggerated. Not okay doesn't even start to describe the bull she got into. "In fact, I'm probably heading for a mental breakdown, is that bad enough?" She asked, sitting in a plush chair in her living room.

Lucky frowned at himself. This definitely wasn't the Emily he knew. The change in Emily was monumental. The friend as he knew it was dead and gone and all that was left was an empty shell. "Can we do anything?" He asked, wanting to help.

"Lucky, the only thing you can do is to leave me alone. I'm obviously not very good company at the moment, if you haven't noticed." Emily replied bitterly.

"I don't care if your not good company or not, Emily. Were friends, the four musketeers, we help each other. So whether your bitter or rude as you have shown in this phone conversation doesn't matter, it's our friendship that matters. Together we can do anything." Lucky insisted, growing a little angry at Emily.

"Lucky, the four musketeers are dead." Emily responded, unconvinced. "When we made up that, we were teenagers, not yet mature and grown up and very naïve in ways of friendship, almost like children. Now were grown ups, adults who know better. That friendship we shared, it was great Lucky, but now its over. We all have our own lives which are very busy and that means we have no time for each other, as time has shown." Emily said about to hang up on him, knowing she had her piece said.

Lucky, very much injured by what she had said tried to make her reconsider what she said. The four musketeers weren't dead, he knew the friendship was still there, but coming from Emily who was away while they supposedly could have cared less. He never considered that they were leaving her out of the loop.

"Emily, that isn't true. I know you feel left out because the distance, but the friendship is still there, and it may be weaker but were still the four musketeers." Lucky argued, not really feeling like arguing over this but what could he do? Agreeing was out of the question.

"Our friendship is still there Lucky, no doubt, but as for that lying tramp's…I think not. As for Nikolas, he's too busy with that spoiled brat of a fiancée to care. I am able to understand and take that bull to a point, and I'm at that breaking point. Two years of this is it. I've stood for two years of it, but not anymore." Emily confessed. "Now it's my turn to be the selfish one. I've understood and been there for years, being the unselfish one and each of you has taken that for granted. I'm there for you but you're never there for me when I actually need it. And I may seem like a jerk because of it but I'm past caring anymore. You go back to your own lives and forget about me, it should be natural to you by now."

Emily slammed down the phone at this point, seething with fury and anger, meaning every thing she said. She was done with being the good, understanding, and unselfish friend and she just didn't care anymore. They were her oldest friends but she didn't want any friends that would take her for granted like that anymore. She will miss the friendship, no doubt they had something going there for a bit, but she could find friends like that here and she wasn't going to waste her breathe anymore. Whatever they had is dead, now if anybody else would actually believe her.

Lucky was visibly shocked as she hung up on him. It was worse than he thought; much worse. She had found about Liz and Zander and Gia had ruined Nikolas's and Emily's friendship. He felt much guilt and hurt over the lost friendship but he wasn't going to give up on it.

Elizabeth was on her own in trying to get back that friendship, he couldn't help there but he didn't know if Emily would ever forgive Elizabeth for her lies and deceit. Nikolas's friendship, he might work on but he didn't know if it would help any because it would complicate things. They'd be in the middle of Emily and Elizabeth.

Maybe Emily was right, maybe the four musketeers was dead. Lucky thought, but quickly shook his head.

No, Emily was just feeling betrayed and bitter after all they did, he was convinced. She couldn't mean that, she was just pushing them away because something that big was happening. Emily wouldn't give up like that, she hid until she could be open minded and then came back refreshed. It was how it always went.

But Emily was right on one account. They had taken her for granted and for that he was deeply sorry, but he would make up for it starting now.

He quickly stood up and grabbed the hotel key and his wallet and cell phone and after scribbling down a quick note to Nikolas and Elizabeth, he left heading to Emily. Emily needed him, she needed them all but Nikolas and Elizabeth had pushed it too far, especially Elizabeth.

Whether or not they would fix it wasn't his problem. His and Emily's friendship was very much alive and he wouldn't lose that. He could stand losing a lot but Emily's friendship wasn't one of them. They went way back and he counted on that to keep it strong until he could give back what Emily gave him at one point, understanding and comfort.

Author's note: okay, bad ending and very negative chapter, you have my apologies.


	11. Chapter 10

An angel wronged

Chapter 10

Nikolas and Elizabeth returned to find Lucky gone. Their stomachs were full but yet their friend was gone. They put the food they brought for him on the table in the corner, near the window.

Elizabeth and Nikolas looked at each other. "You have any idea where he went?" Nikolas asked her.

Elizabeth shook her head. "No idea whatsoever but perhaps he left a note? It's not like Lucky to not tell us where he is going." Elizabeth suggested and Nikolas agreed.

They searched around and Nikolas was the one to find the note. He sat on the bed and read it. While he was reading it Elizabeth turned to comment on the missing note and saw what he was doing.

"Is that his note?" Elizabeth asked as she sat next to him. Nikolas silently passed Elizabeth the note to read on her own.

It read:

_Went to see Emily, **Don't follow**._

_Lucky_

Elizabeth looked away from the note which was still in her hand. Lucky had bolded and underlined "don't follow", what did that mean? She turned to ask Nikolas. "Why did Lucky underline and bold 'don't follow'?"

Nikolas stood up. "It's pretty obvious, Liz. Emily doesn't want to see us." He told her, a bit hurt at that.

Liz was now really confused. "Why wouldn't she want to see us?" Elizabeth asked him, clueless.

Nikolas gave her an annoyed look. "Elizabeth, in your case, do you really need to ask?" He asked, incredulously and Elizabeth got the message.

She frowned but didn't tally on it for the moment, asking Nikolas a question instead. "Why wouldn't she want to see you? I can see me, most definitely, but what have you done?" She asked him.

Nikolas shook his head. "I have no idea, Liz. I didn't do anything to my knowledge." Nikolas replied, clueless as to why Emily wouldn't see him. Last time he knew they were fine.

"So what do we do then?" Elizabeth asked him. IT wasn't like they could just wait to hear something from Lucky. They'd go stir crazy.

"We wait." Nikolas told her; at least that's what logic said. Inside he wanted to go after his brother but if Lucky said not to follow and he really meant it, curtsy of the bold and underline, they'd have to listen and trust Lucky would take care of it.

Elizabeth jumped up, surprised. "Wait? How can we wait?" Elizabeth asked, even though she was the inactive and logical one most the time.

"We have to Liz." Nikolas insisted. "I don't want to, but if we go after Lucky we'd just ruin things. Say Lucky was actually helping out Emily and then we walked in, she'd go berserk at seeing us and there goes any help Lucky could have been undone. Lucky didn't say not to go for no reason, Liz." Nikolas explained, giving her a scenario.

Elizabeth didn't want to admit it, but he was right. She sat back on the bed and sighed and silently agreed with him. It was all up to Lucky. He was alone this time around and given Emily and Lucky's history, they just hoped it was enough.

However, sneaking into the villa was harder than it looked. He didn't try to persuade the guard to let him in because it would do no good, he wouldn't let him in unless Emily said to be expecting him and she didn't want him or anyone around.

The main building was bustling with light and entertainment. Something was happening, some kind of party he assumed, but that became handy. Guests were arriving so he quietly snuck behind the car as the gate opened and quickly hid in the bushes.

Then he quietly snuck from there when the guard was distracted and towards the parking lot. He checked out the cars, most of them were flashy and luxurious, just as the guard said. There was a red Ferrari, a mustard yellow viper, a forest green jaguar and a silver porche. All cars he would love to try but he had a responsibility to tend to.

He checked out the freak of the group, a black SUV, which he identified as Emily's. It was her pride and joy. You always would have thought a BMW or some kind of luxury vehicle, but Emily went with a SUV. She loved the car for some reason and when she was telling him of it he joked how SUV type cars and trucks were more for males but Emily just laughed at him and teased him back. He bet she wouldn't do that now.

He looked for an entrance to the apartment buildings and stepped in casually, acting cool as if he wasn't snooping around. He went up the three staircases because hers was on the third floor, the top floor as well. He went to her number and knocked but received no answer.

He searched his pockets for his back up plan, a pick lock set. He looked down the hall, making sure no one was watching and picked the lock and the door opened thanks to his magic with locks. It was dark, as if she wasn't here but he had to be sure of that before he left. So he closed the door and looked around.

From what he could see it was a nice place, resembling more of a condo than an apartment. It was vast and there was a black, metal spiral staircase leading upward, to a bedroom he guessed. He decided to check that out first.

He carefully made his way up with the dark and expected to find the bed occupied but it was still freshly made. A pair of clothes lay on it, but left the mystery of where Emily was still unanswered.

He went back down the stairs, tripping once as he did so. But he just curses silently and continued his search. He still found nothing as he searched the other rooms. He was about to give up until he noticed a door slightly open.

He went to check it out, and found some air blowing through it. Curious, he opened it wider and found a stairway. He didn't hesitate in snooping around. He went up the stairs and found another door, pushing it open.

It was a roof door; Lucky discovered and looked around for signs of life, his eyes falling on a figure sitting near the edge. The cool wind that flew made the dress they wore blow in the wind. They made no notice that they weren't alone.

Lucky knew it was Emily. He approached her cautiously, so as to not scare her.

Emily felt Lucky's presence, she could smell the cologne he always wore, but didn't say anything. She just continued to hug her knees and shivered slightly under the cool wind. She was past caring about anything at this moment, if only she could just stretch a little closer to the edge and she could have it all over with, but she didn't.

She really should go to the party, she would be expected but she didn't want to. She was dressed to, but she didn't want to. She didn't want to go to the stupid wedding tomorrow where the bride and groom would be all smiles and she'd be miserable trying to look happy but probably failing. She didn't want to try acting happy; she shouldn't have to. In fact she didn't want to be here at all.

She still felt Lucky's presence, wishing he would go away. Wasn't that phone call and all the nasty truths she said enough? He shouldn't be here, but maybe if she didn't make eye contact or acknowledge his presence he would leave her alone.

"Emily…" Lucky broke off unsure what to say. No luck, she probably would have laughed at that pun if she was herself but she wasn't so she just let it slide and let her thoughts control her.

Boy she hated that name now, her thoughts were saying. At first she loved the name but now since, well, everything she wished it was Cindy or Amanda or even Elizabeth.

Emily's hands clenched at that slut's name. She, of all people should have known better to lie to her. She wouldn't care, didn't care that she was seeing Zander, as far as she was concerned she was happy for them. They both deserved some happiness but the fact that liz constantly lied to her about it ticked her off.

She had learned early on of their relationship and had faith that Elizabeth would tell her, but nope, not one mention of it. Just that she had meant a guy. What kind of friend would lie about that? Well, okay it wasn't a lie, but it certainly wasn't the whole truth.

She even gave Elizabeth three months to tell her, but no she takes the coward's way out. That was why she called her a few days ago. She wanted to give her one last chance before she said goodbye to their friendship and she had failed miserably.

Then there's Nikolas; a great guy who found a real brat for a fiancée. She loved that Nikolas found someone to love and spend his life with but the fact he constantly brushed her occasional phone calls just to spend more time with her.

Some people can call her green with jealousy but she thought she at least deserved Nikolas's attention during those occasional phone calls. She only called once or twice a month, not much at all, barely fifteen minutes of his time, but almost every conversation ended up short because little miss brat needed his attention.

Hello? He lived with her! She got plenty of attention from him and she thought she deserved a little more respect than that. Nikolas always apologized but she was sick of apologies. So she just gave up. If he wanted to brush her off like that because that constant nuance of a woman, fine, but she wasn't going to stand for it anymore. As far as she was concerned, their friendship was terminated.

Lucky, her oldest friend, she really didn't have too many complaints there. They had been through so much and he always made a good knight in shining armor, but times had changed. He was busier, so busy he didn't notice anything anymore.

She constantly lied to see if he'd catch on, but no, he wouldn't. His life was in so much distress her life that was in peril didn't matter anymore. But no, she didn't comment, just let him say his part but she didn't get any thanks, nothing in return. He didn't listen to her problems; it was all about his problems until recently when he started to suddenly care about her problems.

She'd keep his friendship, she would keep that alive. Just because he was being particular selfish weren't terms to a terminated friendship. At least he wasn't lying to her or flaking her off every time she tried to make contact. He had that much respect and trust in her, unlike those two other jokers that she called friends until recently.

Lucky didn't like the silence, not at all. It scared him. He tried calling her name again, "Emily?" No answer, so she must be waiting for him to go away.

He made the next move as he sat down next to her. Truthfully the height scared him a bit but he didn't let Emily know that. "Emily, what's wrong?" He asked and waited patiently for an answer that would never come.

Then he went to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, also looking for her attention he admitted, but she quickly scrambled off his comfort and moved away, as if in fear of him. Lucky frowned, this really was serious.


	12. Chapter 11

An angel wronged

Chapter 11

Author's note: I've been hearing some complaints of no liason. I will get into that couple shortly, I just wanted to get some Emily interaction before I do. So have no fear, liason will be coming. Oh, yeah a reviewer commented on my bashing of Liz…I admit it, I'm not a big fan of Elizabeth at the moment so will be making her look bad, just so u are prepared. Thanks and read on…

Lucky stood on the roof and watched Emily curl up like she did before he touched her. He bit his lip and considered the options of what he could do, while he noticed Emily was almost rocking herself, looking for comfort in her.

Normally he'd go over there and hug her, but it was obvious she didn't want to be touched by him. So he tried the desperate, pleas that actually showed how he was feeling. No one could know how lost and clueless he was here, no one.

He took one small step towards her but Emily didn't seem to mind that. Just as long as he kept a good distance he didn't think she would overreact. Pleading with her, he asked, "Emily, what's wrong?" He begged for an answer and hoped for an answer.

A few seconds later Emily laughed. She laughed! She laughed like one of those psychotic clowns on television and movies, it sounded pretty freaky to his ears. A reply followed with that evil laugh, "what's wrong? I think you pretty much know that answer. Remember, phone call, mental breakdown?" Emily asked him strangely enough.

He had never really seen Emily lose it; he'd seen her on the brink of it sure, but not actually in it. He continued pleading for answers anyway; he really had nothing to lose. "Emily, I don't understand, did I do something wrong?" He asked her.

"Wrong? Did you do something wrong?" Emily asked, laughing funny again, scaring him more. "Do you call being selfish wrong? I sure do…" Emily tailed off again.

Now Lucky was lost as ever. Selfish? Since when had he been selfish and where was the Emily he knew? This certainly wasn't her. He approached her cautiously, not sure what to do or how to act anymore.

"Emily, you have to excuse me for a moment, because frankly I have no idea what you're talking about." Lucky admitted to her, hoping for an answer back so he could try getting back on track again.

"No, you don't, because it's all about you. All about your problems, your dad, that Summer person you've mentioned, how your life holds so much distress and drama. All about you but what about me? What about my problems? Do you even care that I have problems?" Emily asked facing him; face full of fury and traces of exhaustion he hadn't seen before now.

"Emily…" He paused to find the right words that wouldn't get Emily so worked up, but found there was none but the plain truth and figured she would blow up on him either way. "I didn't know you had problems." He admitted and Emily interrupted him and stood up and faced him.

Emily was dressed in a midnight blue spaghetti strap dress that went to her knees and was barefoot. She had certainly grown a few inches since leaving because she was almost at his nose. Before she left she was only at his shoulders. She had gotten skinner and her chest grew some and she had gotten even more beautiful.

Maturity and growing up suited her nicely. Not that he was interested in her that way, but she was not the scrawny brat she was when they first met. The change was unbelievable and he was speechless. He had always known Emily would change as she grew up but he didn't think she'd change this much.

In the moonlight she was very attractive and even though there was just friendship between them, he was still a guy and could see her for the strong woman she was. No doubt a man would be stupid to pass someone like her up.

Emily's face, he finally got a good look at with the moon light's help, was just as young and even though Emily found some way to hide her exhaustion and fear, cause he could still see it in her eyes. She had lost some color, but that only made her look even more enticing. She definitely grew to be what any man would dream of, strong, beautiful and intelligent.

He tuned in as Emily answered his reply. She stuck a finger in his chest angrily and had to admit it held a twinge of pain. 'Your right, you didn't, and you know why? Cause you didn't care to ask, you didn't care to offer your support, and you didn't care to stop talking about your problems." She answered and waited for a slow response from Lucky.

"Emily, I'm sorry, I've been a little caught up in my own drama, I know, but I'm here now." He reached for her arm and Emily allowed it but didn't show any signs of returning the comfort. She was tense in his grip.

Lucky stepped one step closer and saw her start to sag and lose her anger, coming out of revelry. She said nothing still, looking down at the roof tiles. Lucky knew her defenses were falling and she was giving into exhaustion.

That was all she had while he was too caught up in his own problems to notice she was having some too. And now he could see it was obviously weakening her. She probably would have asked for help if she thought anyone would help, but the three people she had counted on before wasn't there. She was all on her own, but not anymore. He was here now.

Emily allowed him to pull her into a hug and grabbed onto his jacket as sleep overwhelmed her and she promptly fell asleep in his arms. Lucky picked her up and returned her to the apartment, off the roof and he tucked her into bed.

He went back downstairs and turned on some lights and went to the relativity sparkling clean kitchen. Emily always cleaned when she was stressed and this was often the result, so it came as no big surprise.

He sat at the kitchen table, sat at one of the four chairs and pulled out his cell phone. He punched some numbers, calling Nikolas's cell phone. Nikolas answered the phone right away, probably waiting for him to call anyway.

"Lucky?" He asked as soon as he answered.

"Yeah, it's me." Lucky said, a little worn out but nothing like Emily.

"How's Emily?" He asked him.

"To be honest…," Lucky started, trying to find the right word to express what Emily was. "She was terrible Nik. It's like her entire life is falling apart right in front of her eyes and we didn't even care to notice something was wrong."

Nikolas frowned at the other end, and Elizabeth who was watching Nikolas closely did as well. "Is it really that bad?" Nikolas asked, finding it hard to believe he would actually miss that, even over the phone.

Lucky grew slightly angry, at Nikolas, at himself, at Elizabeth, at the whole world even perhaps. "Yes, Nikolas, it was really that bad." Lucky reassured his older brother.

"Did you help any?" Elizabeth stole the phone from Nikolas's ear, positive he was asking the wrong questions, so she took it upon herself to do so.

"I certainly tried." Lucky told her. "She was reluctant to accept my help because I've been too caught up in my own problems, as I now realize, but I think I helped some. She knows I'm here now at least and when she wakes up I'm going to get to the base of things, but she's sleeping now and I'm not going to wake her up just to get them." Lucky got up from the chair and paced a bit, a part of him wanting him to do just that, but pickers can't be choosers. Emily needed her rest, that mental breakdown certainly caused her some physical problems. She was almost catatonic.

Nikolas stole the phone back from Elizabeth. "Anything we can do?" Nikolas asked, even though he expected an outright "NO!"

Lucky analyzed that possibility. "No, you can't. Emily just simply doesn't like nor trust you anymore." He didn't want to sound harsh, but the truth hurt.

"Okay, I understand why she wouldn't like Elizabeth at the moment, but why me? Do you have any idea what I did?" He asked, wanting that answer.

"Emily was vague about that, but you certainly did something. She was ranting like a mad woman how you were too busy with Gia to care on the phone." Lucky gave what he knew, but that wasn't much.

Nikolas held back on answering, wanting to figure out what Emily meant of him being too busy to care. He had to admit Gia had been a constant nuance; there was barely a time when she didn't want his attention, so that call may have been right.

During some of the phone calls he could remember he did end up having to cut it short because Gia was calling for him. And maybe during those phone conversations he couldn't remember, chances are that was how they all ended, so he supposed Emily's view was possible. She could have thought he lost his respect for her when it happened one too many times for her taste and viola…terminated friendship.

"Okay, I can see that now." Nikolas admitted. "I did cut some of, okay most of our phone conversations short because Gia needed my attention. She's hard to ignore." Nikolas explained, making up an excuse.

Lucky wasn't convinced, just said "Uh huh, sure." He made it sound like he didn't believe him, hoping to have a desired effect on Nikolas. It did, Nikolas just excused himself for a moment and gave Elizabeth the phone to speak.

"So, Emily knows about Zander I take it?" Elizabeth asked, unsure what to say.

"Well, she didn't say much about it, barely a sentence, but she did call you a tramp." Lucky offered, in his head debating if that was or wasn't a good way to put it. He was leaning towards was actually.

"I'm not a tramp." Elizabeth argued.

Lucky just shook his shoulders, indifferent. "You tell that to Emily who knows all your deepest secrets." Lucky replied, taunting her.

Lucky had a point there, Elizabeth realized. She changed the subject to the recovery of their friendship. "Do you know how I could regain back our friendship?" She supposed he would know more than her.

Lucky sighed on the other end. "Elizabeth, this isn't a matter of you and Zander, this is a matter of broken trust. You lied to her for three months and you of all people know what her biggest peeve is." He was unsympathetic of course, knowing that was part of this breakdown Emily shared with him.

"Then how do I regain her trust, every word I say from now she would probably take as a lie." Elizabeth responded pleading some for advice.

Lucky shrugged his shoulders again, again indifferent. "Not my problem." He told her over the phone and that enraged Liz some. The all might Lucky had answers usually for everything. Even though Lucky didn't have a particular good answer anyway, time is not of the moment, so what good would that do in Liz's case?

"Not your problem? What if me and Emily get into a fight? Wouldn't that make it your problem?" Liz supposed, expressing some anger.

Lucky supposed this, he could intervene, but just to tick her off some more he answered, "Then I hope Emily wins." And he hung up, leaving her to strew.

Lucky sighed and rubbed his eyes, as some footsteps came near him. "Who was that?" Emily asked as she came near him and he was lost for words. How could he answer that, risking another angry rant?

When Lucky said nothing she just waved it away, "Never mind, you don't need to tell me, I know." She went to the refrigerator and got a bottle of water.

"Emily…" He didn't know what to say to her, absolutely speechless.

"No don't start Lucky, not today." Emily checked the time. "You should go." Emily suggested and made her way towards the stairs to her bedroom again.

Lucky stood up from the table and blocked the stairs. "Emily, I'm not leaving you like this." Lucky replied, expecting retorts if his friend was back.

"Like this?" Emily was confused. "I'm fine Lucky; I just had a small meltdown that's probably been coming for months. Thank you for your help, but I can take care of myself now." Emily made movements to look around him, seeing if she could escape upstairs by walking around him. No such luck.

"Still, I'd rather not leave you." Lucky was adamant. He saw Emily roll her eyes.

"Lucky, you have a bigger responsibility to attend to." Emily responded firmly.

"Bigger responsibility?" Lucky asked, frowning some. Emily wasn't a responsibility. "What's my bigger responsibility?"

"Get your two friends away from here." Emily told him frankly.

"Emily, they're your friends too, or were at least." Lucky corrected himself.

"Keyword there Lucky, were. Were my friends, aren't no longer." Emily said firmly.

"Then why do you care that they leave?" Lucky asked her straightly.

"Lucky, this isn't about me. It's about their safety. I can't promise I won't go postal if I see those two, and until their gone, you're not welcome either." Emily told him and brushed past him in his shock and up to her bedroom again, leaving Lucky speechless.

Author's note: So…what'd you think?


	13. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: now its time for a disclaimer…okay, you'll meet a couple new characters I made up in this chapter. Jack, Eric, Gabriella, Melissa and Alyssa are mine. Everyone else, I don't unfortunately own. Now, enjoy the chapter and please review.

An angel wronged

Chapter 12

"You want us to do what?" Nikolas asked as he had a hard time believing what Lucky just suggested, no make that demanded.

"Leave." Lucky verified, completely serious in his command.

"We can't leave." Elizabeth argued. "How are we to get Emily to like us again if we leave?" Elizabeth insisted.

Lucky shook his head, them not getting it at all. "Elizabeth, Emily doesn't want to see you or Nikolas for that matter. How do you expect to gain her friendship back if you defy her wishes? You'll only make it worse." Lucky explained, trying to get through to them without kicking them out of the room and locking it behind them.

"Worse? How can this be worse?" Nikolas asked.

"Yeah, besides, why should we leave and you stay?" Elizabeth asked, feeling a little betrayed herself

"Liz, Nik, would you listen to me, please?" Lucky asked them and they promptly shut up to listen. Hoping to get through the message through their tiny minds, he started again. "Emily doesn't want you here and with you here, I can't see her. And if I can't see her, I'm not going to be able to figure out what is happening." Lucky insisted tiredly.

"We can hide and keep our distance." Nikolas suggested and Elizabeth agreed with a nod.

"Great idea, Nik. Lying is a great way to gain back Emily's trust." Lucky nearly rolled his eyes, obviously using sarcasm.

Elizabeth frowned and looked at Nikolas. "As much as I want him not to be, he's right. Lying is what got me in this mess in the first place and it certainly won't get me out of it." Elizabeth replied.

"Still, we can't leave this problem unattended." Nikolas unfortunately agreed with Elizabeth at that point. Now that Gia was gone, everything was open again.

"No, we can't, but that's why I'm staying here. Emily still has some trust in me and her defenses are at full use, so it's going to take some time to get her to crack the problem either way. I have to help though; Emily can't handle this on her own." Lucky persuaded them.

"She certainly thinks so." Elizabeth said a bit snobbish.

"Of course she thinks so, Elizabeth. It's Emily and it certainly wouldn't be Emily if she wasn't that way." Lucky responded.

"Come on Liz. Let's go to bed, we have to wake up early to leave for Port Charles." Nikolas went to his bed and sat down on it.

Elizabeth's mouth practically fell. "I can't believe you're not fighting this anymore. You wanted to stay, as do I." Elizabeth accused him.

"I still do, Elizabeth, but there's no point in fighting anymore. We aren't welcome and the only way we can find out what is happening is to leave. Sometimes retreat is the better strategy. We can't win this round, so we might as well leave." Nikolas told Elizabeth.

Elizabeth knew she was caught, she couldn't ruin Lucky's chance but how could she walk away? Emily was her best friend and defeat or not, it was still there, despite Emily's view. She'd just have to prove it, another time. She just walked out of the room into her own in a stew.

Lucky and Nikolas just ignored the princess and got ready for bed.

The next day, Nikolas and Elizabeth stood waiting for a cab which would take them to the airport. They didn't trust a rental car anymore after that last incident.

Elizabeth just instructed the driver how to put their bags in, nicely and orderly, but the driver didn't care for her superior attitude anymore than the guys, but they just blocked it out as they talked at the side.

"You take care of Emily, Lucky. You're the last one she really trusts." Nikolas advised Lucky.

Lucky nodded, knowing how much fell on his shoulders. "I will, Nikolas, I'm not letting her down this time." And that was a promise; he'd be there for her this time. No more him, it's all about her.

Nikolas looked over as Liz complained and moaned about the disorder. Nikolas rolled his eyes. "We have to go Lucky before the driver changes his mind taking miss royalty and me to the airport." Nikolas shook his head, wasn't he supposed to be the royalty?

Lucky smiled and laughed, giving Nik a hug, whispering "good luck" in his ear as Nikolas took Liz by the arm and forced her in the cab, cutting off her lecture. Lucky watched as the cab drove away and went back to the room briefly, to get his wallet and cell.

He locked the room and left, making his way to Emily's apartment, in which he found locked and when he revisited his past, found it empty. Lucky just sat on the couch and decided to wait until Emily came home, which wasn't soon. He just ended up falling asleep.

Emily walked from the ball room of the villa and sat down in the nearest chair, slipping off her heels easily. She rubbed them as they throbbed with misery.

She had done it. She had gone to the wedding when all she wanted to do was hide herself in her bedroom. But she had gone and she stood by patiently as the bride, whom she knew relatively well, as she freaked over every small incident that could ruin her wedding.

She dressed in ivory as she was of middle age and looked very beautiful in it. Gabriella was a red head with a nice figure who also had a great personality. She had her unwelcome qualities, and being a perfectionist was one of them. But overall she was a very nice woman to be around. She wasn't a person you could be with all the time, but she was a generous and kind soul.

The wedding had gone off without a hitch. The wedding took place in the colorful garden that was taken care of nicely. There was a small gazebo where they said their vows in front of a dozen rows of white chairs full of family and friends of both the groom and the bride.

Emily had been the maid of honor, dressed in a lavender spaghetti strap dress and the insufferable heels much the same color. The groom Eric Alexander looked nice in his tuxedo as did his best man, who just happened to be her date.

Well, she couldn't say it was her date, because they had dated at one time and now were close friends. Jack was an attractive man in his young twenties with brown hair and almost perfect features if you don't count his unusually large nose.

They met in her psychology class and he asked her out that same day. For a week or two, it was a nice arrangement. They each had their share of likes and dislikes but that just made conversations more fun.

Then came the problems. He kissed her. He was a great kisser, no doubt, but not one ounce of romance, it was almost like kissing her brother. She tallied a few days, thinking about how she could let him down easily. She loved him, but only as a friend, nothing more.

She finally took him out for a walk in the same garden and explained it all to him. She said she loved having him around, that he was a great person to be around, but she didn't care for him the way a boyfriend and a girlfriend should. She said she wanted to be friends, good friends, she had very little as it was, and apologized.

But Jack had taken it better than she thought. He nodded and understood, and said there were no hard feelings. They both liked honesty over lies so they just hugged and came to an agreement of good friends.

There had been that tension at first as the rumors around campus went around. "Heiress and son of a wealthy business man, dating?" It was said that they were engaged, dating and doing it all for money.

But neither of them cared about that. Jack didn't want to become his dad, a work-a-holic who had little time for anyone else. He wanted to be something else, something grand without his dad's reputation and money. He was an accounting major and loved math to its fullest. He even tutored her when she needed help.

He was a great friend, one that she could never let go of. And when she needed a date, he was there, as in the wedding's case. It had been a joyful celebration but she didn't really have the time for Jack as she wished.

Eric, the groom, had two little girls. Identical twins, both two years old. Melissa and Alyssa were joys and Emily loved them as if they were sisters. They both had blonde hair and green eyes and were the flower girls. They were absolutely adorable, in public anyway.

They had been born of a one night stand between Eric and a woman named Annabelle. Annabelle was a known beauty and on a negative, party girl. She carried the twins and gave birth to them, but didn't want anything to do with them.

So Eric took them and took upon the parenting duty and there she came in. She was a part time nanny to them and took care of them when Eric was busy and couldn't be there for them.

She loved the girls and they loved her too, but then the evil stepmother concept walked in, all 5'6 of her. Alyssa was just sad and took it as it went but Melissa was another story. She was the trouble child.

She didn't approve of this "mother" coming in and stealing her daddy away from her and her sister, as she was very protective of them. Emily couldn't get her to see else as she knew the story of their biological mother.

Eric had told them that she died in childbirth, so they didn't know the truth. They would one day, but until they were old enough to learn of their rejection at birth, it would stay that their mother was dead.

Still they weren't much for the idea still, but they would learn. Emily knew Gabriella would be a great mom to them, much better than the one they had, but she gave it time.

They agreed to go through the wedding without interruption and Emily was in charge of keeping them that way. Alyssa was no problem, Melissa, well, that's a story for another time. They still looked adorable in their white dresses and hats though.

The reception was wonderful. So much food and conversation, the cake Melissa and Alyssa loved. It was a simple wedding cake, no real decorations but it had three layers of white cake and pink frosting. Melissa's dress was officially ruined thanks to that, but she did end up stopping her from creating a food fight so she was satisfied.

She still felt bad for keeping Jack out of the loop, but from what she saw he had a good time with some other girl guests. She smiled at seeing him happy and moving on. He really deserved it, after that disastrous relationship she did to him. It didn't end terribly, but it sure didn't start great.

Speaking of Jack, he strode to her and took a seat next to her. He leaned against it. "So, was that fun?" He asked, looking over at her.

Emily closed her eyes and hid her head in his shoulder. Jack just laughed and put his arms around her, kissing her on the forehead. "Is it over?" She asked him.

"Yeah, you can be miserable again now." He told her. He knew she had been down about losing two of her closest friends thanks to her being at the end of her rope.

"I'm too exhausted to be miserable." Emily complained as he took her by the hand and she barely grabbed her shoes as he whisked her away from the wedding reception clean up.

"I doubt that Emily, you're full of emotion and energy." Jack laughed at her and guided her to her apartment.

"Actually, those two monsters took all my energy and emotion. Call me a temporary robot until I say otherwise." Emily suggested and her and Jack had a good laugh.

Jack guided her to her apartment door, picking her up in his arms so that she didn't have to walk up the stairs, with her throbbing feet. He put her down at her doorway.

Emily laughed and fished for her extra key. Before she did open the door she turned to Jack saying "Jack thanks." She said sincerely, smiling a bit. She felt so natural around him.

"What for?" He asked, oblivious at what she was saying.

Emily continued smiling. "For everything, for being my date for the wedding, for being a good friend, for letting me complain through this crisis I'm having with friendship. I know I haven't been great company lately and I really do appreciate you listening, it really helped getting that all out in the open." She hugged him again and he returned the hug.

She pulled away. "I need to rest after today. But thanks again." She told him again.

"It was no problem Em. That's what friends are for after all, but I'll expect compensation when my father is driving me nuts." Jack faked being stern and got a laugh from her.

"Most definitely, I'm looking forward to it." Emily smiled and turned away to open her door.

Jack stuck around, to see her in. When it was open, he said "I'll see you later; better yet I'll call you later." He corrected himself.

"Okay, it's a plan. See you then." Emily entered her apartment and turned on the lights. She settled against the wood door and took a deep breath. She looked around her apartment, which she absolutely adored but something didn't feel right.

She pulled away from the door and stepped a foot in front of her and her eyes widened in fear as she was shoved against someone and mouth covered so she wouldn't let out a blood curling scream.

Author's note: You betcha, I'm SO leaving it there. (Evil laugh).


	14. Chapter 13

An angel wronged

Chapter 13

Lucky pulled away as Emily kicked him in the stomach painfully. He bent over, near the door and tried standing, but just sat back down on a bench in the corner.

"Lucky! What are you doing here?" Emily exclaimed as she recovered from that scare.

"Waiting for you, what do you think?" Lucky asked her. "Jeepers fright Em, that was quite a kick, what are you trying to do, kill me?" Lucky guessed.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't have done that if you didn't sneak up on me like that, it's your own fault." Emily told him and sat back down on the couch, rubbing her feet some.

"Yeah, well, lesson learned." Lucky said and went back to the couch and sat next to her.

"Good, or else I'm going to use my jack knife on you next time you decide to pull a stunt like that." Emily threatened.

"Since when have you carried a jack knife? You don't like weapons or anything that can harm." Lucky asked, wondering how much had really changed with her now.

"It's for self defense Lucky and since Zander kidnapped me, if you must know. That's an experience I learned from." Emily answered his question.

"Fine, where were you then?" Lucky changed the subject openly.

"A wedding, I do have a life beyond my friendship problems." Emily replied.

Lucky checked out her attire. It was a lavender spaghetti strap dress, a pair of purple earrings and a pearl necklace, along with the discarded purple heels.

"I see, was it fun?" Lucky implied.

"Oh yeah, it was so much fun, I had a blast." Emily said sarcastically.

"What was wrong about it?" Lucky asked picking up on her sarcasm.

"Oh, I don't know the happiness, the love, and those brats that I had to watch when I should have been entertaining my date." Emily explained swiftly.

"That guy was your date?" Lucky asked, feeling slightly jealous of him, but if Emily was like this, she really wasn't date material, not saying that she wouldn't hide it unless necessary.

"Well, actually yes and no. He went with me and acted as my date, but we are not going out and I would refrain from calling it a date, considering we dated at one time." Emily said, hoping that sounded right and Lucky could understand.

"Oh, is that…what's his name…Jack?" Lucky searched for the name. Emily had explained what happened in that relationship in a short email a month ago.

"Yes, Lucky, that is the one and only Jack." Emily reassured him.

"Ah, there's the infamous Jack. How is he holding up with only friends?" Lucky implied, curious. No guy lost Emily like that easily. She was usually considered a good catch.

"He's dealing. There's still that occasional tension and he was socializing with some interested females at the wedding, so that's good." Emily thought on what else to say. "And I can't talk about boyfriends or crushes I've had just yet with him, but it's getting there." Emily told Lucky.

"He sounds like a great guy." Lucky commented, a bit jealous again. Emily wasn't like that with him anymore.

"He is and he's such a great listener. I feel so bad, here his father is so mad at him for, how he says, 'letting me go', that he is threatening to take away his inheritance that pays his tuition and all I can do is complain how bad my life is." Emily got up, needing to move around.

"I thought you were the one who ended things." Lucky responded.

"I was, but his dad sees so many flaws in Jack, it's like everything is his fault. If he was allowed it, he'd say that Jack was the cause of global warming." Emily explained a little enraged at Jack's father arrogance.

Lucky laughed. "You're kidding, right?" He asked Emily.

"I wish I was, Lucky. I even went to his dad and explained how it was and it was like he didn't even hear me." Emily answered and sat down again on the couch with Lucky.

"Does Jack appreciate what you did?" Lucky asked.

"Yeah, he did and he thanked me for it, very few people can face his dad, but it still did no good. And I can't help feel responsible." Emily confessed.

"Don't, Em, you did the right thing. You shouldn't have led him on, that would have just been worse in the end. He deserves happiness as much as you do and with you, you two wouldn't find it." Lucky told her.

"I know there was a compliment in there somewhere." Emily replied.

"I'm just saying this isn't your fault. You have a right to happiness as does Jack and well, Jack's dad just has to live with it. If he can't, well, it's not your fault." Lucky explained.

"Yeah, I suppose." Emily said, not really convinced of that.

Lucky let it slide; knowing Emily would feel guilt anyway. So he changed the subject. "So, have something to eat?" His stomach grumbled in reply.

Emily just shook her head in response. "Yeah, I think there's some pizza left from when those little monsters ordered it." Emily yawned as he readily went to get it.

He came back with it and offered her a piece. "Cheese, what would I honestly expect two years old to get, sausage and anchovies?" Lucky joked as he took a big bite in a piece.

He gestured to the pizza, as if to invite her to have some but she just shook her head no. "Do you eat?" He asked her, noting her small waist. She really did lose some pounds while she was away. She had never had much of a waist, but not that small.

"Of course I do, I just came from a wedding reception remember?" Emily asked him.

"That's not what I meant Emily and you know it. Your kitchen is practically empty, what do you honestly eat here?" Lucky asked her, serious now.

"So, I haven't got to the grocery store yet, what's the big deal?" Emily got up from the couch again.

"The big deal is that it's not healthy Emily." Lucky insisted.

"You're starting to sound like Edward." Emily crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

"Edward? What happened to grandfather?" Lucky stood up this time and crossed to her. Something was definitely up, if he didn't notice that before, he'd notice it now.

"The same thing that happened to Monica and Alan." Emily turned and went to the kitchen.

Lucky followed close behind, grabbing her arm, turning her to face him. "Emily, what's going on?" He demanded, enough small talk, it was time to get down to business.

"Excuse me?" Emily asked confused as to what he meant.

"What the heck is happening to you? You're turning your backs on two of your best friends, you dropped the Quartermaine name and now you're back to Monica and Alan? What is wrong?" Lucky asked and Emily only blinked at him. He tightened his hold again asking this time "What happened to the Emily I use to know? This isn't her!" He argued.

"She grew up." Emily looked at him coldly. "Now let go of me." She demanded icily.

Lucky tallied but did as she commanded as she gave him a deadly glare. Lucky took a step back and analyzed her answer. She certainly grew up, that's for sure.

"You sure are acting like it." Lucky remarked.

Emily looked at him. "What can I say? Life has made me a female dog. Your sweet, precious, little adaptive Emily isn't here anymore. She grew up, she faced the consequences and she isn't caring too much anymore." Emily told him, dead serious.

"Yes, she is. The Emily I knew is still there, you still have her conscience and you still care somewhat. You just talked to me as if the old Emily would." Lucky replied, not liking this new Emily at all. He never expected her to be that gullible, happy teenager she was before, but he didn't expect this either.

"I never said she was dead, Lucas, just not here. Some of the old Emily exists but is rarely used. You saw a moment of that rarity." Emily responded firmly. "Don't expect it too much during your brief visit here." She snapped at him.

"It's Lucky." Lucky said with some anger. "And you're just trying to scare me away." He figured out her game, it was her defenses, anger over weakness.

"Am I?" Emily toyed with him, acting annoyed.

"Yes, you are and you are doing quite well, but I'm not leaving you, not again. We've had too much history for me to do so." Lucky responded, a bit coolly.

"History, yeah, like that matters anymore these days." Emily really rolled her eyes this time.

"It matters to me." Lucky said and took one step towards her.

"I'm sure it does." Emily turned away, finding this conversation over.

"Emily, stop lying to me." He demanded again, turning her to face him again angrily. He was getting tired of these games she was playing.

"Who said I'm lying?" Emily asked and looked him in the eye. Before Lucky could read her easily, but now, she had managed to hide them much better than he thought. He couldn't see anything, just a bitter, betrayed changed Emily.

"Your best friend of ten years, Emily, let me help you." Emily said nothing, turning her head away, considering his offer he supposed. "Emily, I know you feel so left out and betrayed by all of us. You were away and we used it to our advantage, and it was wrong of us, but I care for you, Liz and Nik as well." Lucky persuaded her to let down her guard like before.

Emily shook her head roughly. She'd never trust those two again. She looked at him with icy eyes again and answered his call with a smart remark. "Now look who's lying." Emily accused him and tore his grasp away and made movements to the couch to collect her stuff. She had better things to do than listen Lucky preach, of all things, a complete lie.

Lucky didn't give up. "Emily, I do care. Everybody does." He insisted.

Emily looked at him coldly. "Define 'everybody'." Emily advised him.

Lucky addressed this cautiously, one bad move may make Emily get angry again, but at this point, who cares? He went for it anyway, despite the risks. "Well, there's me and my family, there's the hospital staff, and most of all your family." He told her and Emily started cracking up.

"You're kidding, right?" Emily asked him. "My family cares? Since when?" Emily asked, hands on her hips.

"AJ came out to visit, didn't he?" Lucky asked. "That shows he must care." Lucky added later.

"He was here for a business trip, Lucky. This wasn't no pleasure trip, he just felt obliged to visit his little sister that he has totally forgotten about until recently. I honestly wouldn't have been surprised that he had been here and totally forgot I was here, everyone has." Emily informed him.

"What about your mom or dad? And do they know about the name change?" He asked her.

"Monica and Alan know about it. Ned and Jason does, don't know if AJ honestly cares that I did, and of course grandmother. She's the only who has cared from the start." Emily told him.

"Monica and Alan has cared, you were even calling them mom and dad at one time." Lucky remembered a few years back.

"Yeah, I was, when they cared. It was always like this, at one time they'd care, but then they don't, and then they do and then they don't. They're always too busy for me when I need them. No wonder they failed as parents to Jason and AJ." Emily said. "Not that they're the only ones that do that. Plenty of other people do that, everyone but grandmother at least." Emily sat down back on the couch, tired and exhausted from all the emotions she had been showing before.

Lucky frowned as she was faltering. "Emily," He started cautiously. "I already told you how sorry I was about that, that's why I'm here. I'm here for making up for that, I'm here to help you now. You have my complete attention." He promised her, sinking onto the couch next to her.

Emily shook her head. "I wish I could accept your help Lucky. I really do need it, but I just can't…trust you anymore. I can't trust anyone anymore. It could be anyone." Emily brought her knees to her face, crossing them.

Lucky's worry grew. "What happened, Emily? Why can't you trust anyone? What is it?" Lucky insisted, and kept himself from shaking her for answers. She didn't need anyone touching her at the moment.

"I don't know Lucky, I don't know anything, all I know is that…" Emily stalled and gave him the simple truth. "I'm being stalked." Emily told him.

Next chapter: Elizabeth and Jason have another run in.

Author's note: Yes, all you liason fans, I am now going to concentrate on this coupling. Emily is going to play in it of course, but that will be a much bigger part of this story now. Expect another chapter after I finish a new face after the race.


	15. Chapter 14

Author's note: Didn't expect to see this updated huh? Well, me either but I found my old notebook where I first posted my ideas for the story, so you are at least guaranteed two new chapters. Then again the GH writers are giving me plenty of ammo to use against Elizabeth. Don't you just love what she turned into?

I know I'm terrible at updating, really I want to apologize for that too but if you are a writer I'm sure you understand, or at least I hope you would. Still, many stand to be updated, just have to find priority. Problem is with me I always start the chapters but never finish writing or editing them until weeks later. I'm trying to get over that though.

Reviews always welcome but if you don't like the story, don't read it okay? No reason to put a distasteful review, I can delete it and ignore you like the plague, LOL. Now onto the story!

An angel wronged

Chapter 13

It was a few days later when Elizabeth found herself at the docks. She not only came for peace but for something familiar. This week had to be the worst of her life. When she was leaving a few days ago for California to see Emily it was what she thought a good start for the week.

Going to the trouble to find Nik was a little irritating but she could hardly complain about the long lines for commercial flights. When the rental car broke down she half expected that. The camping experience was one she would never do again. Nik and Lucky had enough blackmail there to last a lifetime as it was.

Getting back in touch with Emily was a disaster, short of being called a tramp. She wasn't a tramp, she was just in a relationship with her now ex-best friend's ex-boyfriend while pinning and dreaming of another guy. Tramp dealt with people who actually were doing both at the same time. There was a difference so it was more of an emotional tramp not a physical one.

Zander wasn't speaking to her though, last night blowing up on him for the wrong path her life had been on and taking it out on him. She should apologize for that. He was also getting distant but then again she was distant from the relationship from the start. If she wasn't so scared of being alone and facing that loneliness she probably would have broke up with him by now. She was taking the coward's way out though.

Then the fact that she had been fired from Kelly's, who knew missing a couple of unannounced days would have gotten her that way? And it wasn't as if everybody wanted to work there, though there wasn't a help wanted sign up so she could be wrong. Now she had no studio and her room was crammed with things she didn't know what to do with.

Right after the break in that was. But as much as she would like all the sympathy and pity there, there was a train of them. They even broke into Wyndemere but had obviously had too much room to cover so not much was looked at other than the bedrooms and dining rooms. Not much was stolen there but at her room she had her cash stash stolen and her jewelry was gone. Her grandmother had had the same lost but was hardly crying over spilled milk. The Police predictably had nothing as of the moment.

Still, there was no where safe to go anymore and the hiring ability was very loose and the one good job she had held, Kelly's would probably say something like "great beginning but toward the end she turned out to be extremely irresponsible and slacking". But of course she should have known that, she always had concentrated on one thing at a time and Emily was that thing of the moment. Still, she was now stuck at her grandmothers unless she wanted to divulge into her savings account which held little because of tuition costs.

She was down on her luck and she knew she was exactly where she was when she arrived here in Port Charles so many years ago, stuck again in one of her ruts of stupid decisions and the unpredictable consequences she couldn't handle. Her grandmother was hardly one for pity though, sticking to common sense that she obviously lacked.

And above all that she had no idea what to do with the Emily situation. She had called but just as she predicted, Emily didn't answer her messages or her calls for that matter. Lucky had little to say on the matter, not more than he "was taking care of it". He was coming back tomorrow morning.

Still, where did that leave her? She was wondering when she heard footsteps. Looking up she met with the cool stare of Emily's brother Jason. She could hardly handle the silence though as she greeted him. "Jason." She accepted.

"Elizabeth." He greeted just as politely. "Are you waiting for someone?"

"Um..no, just looking for some peace and quiet." Elizabeth answered awkwardly.

"Cant get a more peaceful place." Jason replied just as awkward.

"No, you can't." To fill in the silence that she knew that was coming she volunteered the blunt of her problems. "Did you hear what happened with Emily?" She asked quickly. Jason was the brother after all; maybe he had something to say on the matter.

"I can hardly say I'm not curious but if you are here and lucky am not I got the fact that it didn't go well in your case." Jason concluded as he took a seat next to her. He had figured out that much anyway though the last few days. He even took liberty to calling his sister earlier but either she was actually that busy or just giving him a taste of his own medicine by not picking up.

Elizabeth let out a good laugh there, an odd reaction in Jason's point of view. "Neither Nik's either. She flat doesn't trust us anymore."

"Trust is a precious commodity, especially with Emily who has been surrounded around them most of her life. You can get away with a little white lie, like a killing a pet hamster when you were younger but not anymore than that." Jason explained.

"Well yeah but that still doesn't account for her name calling." Elizabeth retorted.

Jason held up his hands in surrender. "I'm not the one who you have to convince of that."

Then Elizabeth remembered Lucky's comment to that himself. Jason had a point as well as Lucky, Emily did know more than others. She did do a lot of horrible stuff in her life and had acted just as Emily's name recalled. She was hardly going to admit that though to Jason.

Sighing, she looked at her hands. "How do I get Emily's trust back? She's so bitter." She asked Jason.

"Time won't help here as some like to think. The lie is a good part of your problem but what is more is that she feels abandoned by you, by us all. I always said I'd be there for Emily's phone calls, but rarely actually was. AJ said he would change, he didn't." Jason told her.

"But face it, its AJ, Emily knew he would never change but had some hope left for it." Elizabeth argued.

"Exactly; she knows that Monica and Alan and most of the other Quartermaines' would do that but what she counted on was on me and you and Lucky and Nik not to let her down in that area." Jason informed her.

"Abandonment wouldn't just cause this though. There had to be a final piece." Elizabeth figured though. "Oh no, the lie," Now she knew just what she did and how bad it was.

"Right on the money,Emily I think she is well over Zander and I think she would accept you dating her ex-boyfriend even though it's supposedly the number one rule of friendship. But to lie about it to her, for as long as you did? She would think that you didn't trust her so she didn't trust you back."

"So trust and caring is like a cycle? I mean it's said you have to care for the person to have them care for you. Trust would work the same way. You have to trust the other person to have them trust you." Elizabeth asked.

"That's what the paid psychiatrists say." Jason shrugged absently.

"I prolonged telling Emily about Zander for so long because I was scared, scared of what she was going to say, at least I thought it was that. But when you put it that way that just means I didn't trust Emily to take it well. I acted like I didn't even know Emily and I hardly do now anyway." Elizabeth concluded.

"And now you are down to the facts of the problem." Jason finished.

"But what do I do with them?" Elizabeth wondered.

"Sometimes it's easier to let the answer come to you and not push it." Jason replied and stood up.

Alarmed and use to his company again she jumped up with him. "You're leaving?" She asked weakly.

"Yeah, I have things to do like everyone else." Jason said vaguely as usual and she also should have expected that. When it came to most family he said nothing but Emily was an exception but everyone knew Jason was on call for work all the time, thus the vagueness.

She stood up as well. She had to do something about the crisis her life had become. And the first thing was to stand up and find some courage to face the inevitable problems she had created and to deal with them…somehow.

When they parted, Elizabeth was even more self-conscious than before as she had again overstepped the boundaries that had been presented to her. It was a good thing no one was around to see it or else that'd be another stupid decision to her already long list of them. But this one would have cost her more than the others.

Next chapter: Elizabeth's fatal mistake revealed publicly.


	16. Chapter 15

An angel wronged

Chapter 14

"Lucky, go home," Emily told Lucky firmly as he stared at her.

"I'm not sure that is a good idea Emily, not after what you told me." Lucky replied.

"Then I should have been clearer, I was being stalked. No notes, no flowers and no strange feelings have happened in the last two weeks. Whatever it was, whoever it was obviously lost any feel for it anymore." Emily argued.

"Or he is only giving you a break, assuming it is a he, only to come back again when you least expect it." Lucky suggested logically.

"Now who is the paranoid one?" Emily asked as she turned away from him.

"Em, I am hardly saying to stop your life because of this psycho behavior but that doesn't mean you can't just stop forget about it. Why don't you just tell Jason and have him send a guard if you don't want to worry about it?" Lucky said.

"Lucky just how many times do you think I called Jason only to have him never call me back?" Emily pointed out.

"Well I'm sure he'd call back if you just leave an urgent enough message." Lucky determined, knowing just how right she was there. He didn't know why Jason never called her back but he was here to solve his issues, not Jason's. If he wants to fix his problems, that was up to him.

"As usual you are missing the entire point. I shouldn't have to add urgency to get my brother to call me. So it's pretty darn obvious he doesn't want to talk to me or else he would by now." Emily explained.

Lucky didn't know how to respond to that at first but then decided on a little sympathy, couldn't hurt at this point. "That must hurt."

"Damn right it does but I got the message he's been sending out to me. Despite popular belief I'm not stupid and I do have feelings." Emily retorted and turned away from Lucky, searching for her shoes.

It was too early in the morning to be having this conversation as it was; having Lucky screaming saints in Port Charles was just overkill. She had people to see off and things to do, and she wanted to do it while she actually had the strength and energy to do them.

"I'm sure Jason would have a good explanation," Lucky reasoned as Emily let out a scream of frustration.

"Lucky, if you are so darn sure Jason will pick up and talk to you when he wont even talk to me, supposedly his sister, go ahead. Meanwhile tell him to send a plane to get you out of my apartment and this city." Emily, at the end of her rope, grabbed her purse and stalked out of her apartment.

Taking the stairs to the bottom she crossed the yards and went to the main house, going right up to the twin's room to help them pack and get ready. Eric and his newlywed wife Gabriella were formally going to leave the children and go on their honeymoon with only the two of them but after seeing the twins' contempt toward their stepmother decided to take them along.

In that way they could get to know her and hopefully interpret her as a mother, and in a way she thought Eric was reluctant to leave them, even in her care. Good father, evil stepmother, she thought with a laugh.

"Girls, are you up?" She knocked soundly on their door. Usually she heard giggles upon entering but after yesterday, even sweet Alyssa would find it hard to smile. They may have been going on a trip but a trip with the newly wife made it sound sour.

Emily herself had thought they only needed time to get use to the change but months later the held hostility still was present. Those two were definitely too stubborn for their own good. If only they knew just what their mother was really like, they'd appreciate what Gabriella was.

That would just be too much though, when they were older and could even begin to understand what abandonment was, they would handle it. What a soap opera her life had become but she wasn't about to go singing praises to their stepmother, that would just gain hostility towards the few people they trusted anymore.

It was hard enough to keep up the hostility, taking it was harder but it was better than being sad and depressed and letting things go. Not this time, not ever again. They weren't teenagers anymore, due to mistakes, they were adults and it was well time to act like it, responsibilities, consequences and all. And this was her responsibility at the moment.

Without answer, Emily opened the door to find Alyssa putting what she wanted to take on her bed while Melissa was sitting there stubbornly glaring at her sister. Emily was supposed to help them pack. Emily tried making light conversation asking how they slept but got no answer with exception of Melissa's unladylike snort.

Deciding to get to business she helped Alyssa put her things in the suitcase that presented them earlier, here and there asking questions on if she wanted to take this or that, if there was something more she wanted.

Melissa however was still unmoved. Deciding that this wasn't one those days to take this childish tantrum Emily decided to do it for her. She let them happen and was diligent with them, including the wedding but this was a completely different circumstance.

Taking guesses on what was needed, she organized it accordingly and got little argument from Melissa until she took her pink bunny and started to lay it in another bag.

"Hey, that doesn't go there!" she remarked.

Calmly and hiding a grin she looked to her. "Then where would you like it to go?" She asked pointedly.

Melissa got off the bed and took it from roughly and hugged it to her chest. "I'm going to take it on the plane with me." Still stubborn and maybe a little arrogant in her right, but at least she got her to accept that she was going.

Soon the bags were packed and brought down, two clean and dressed little girls in tow. Eric smiled at Emily, she could certainly show some tough love when need be. Now to get to them to at least accept things have changed but he'd take what he got. Maybe some traveling will loosen them up.

As his newlywed wife came down he talked to her and she huddled out the twins, with wasn't responded to nicely. Melissa insisted she could walk herself and Alyssa huddled down sadly undergoing the push for her dad's sake. He didn't know who was taking it worst to be honest but he honestly had no idea what to do. His latest thought was that they just hadn't been around her enough to know the good she can do. Certainly couldn't hurt.

He waited to talk to Emily who had gotten a call earlier in the conversation and was in the corner. As the conversation finished it was obviously bad news at her awkward behavior but he wasn't one to push, never had been.

"Emily, I just wanted to give you this." He took an envelope out of his pocket. Surprised Emily took it and opened it.

"A bonus?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, the kids have been….more difficult than usual and whether my darling daughters know it or not I saw the wedding cake threat of a food fight. So you get a vacation and a bonus." He explained.

Trying not to frown after that last phone call, Emily placed a smile on her face. "That is very thoughtful, thank you."

"Think of it as nothing." Eric responded and appreciated the effort of her smile. He knew she was gracious of the gift but that phone call seemed to destroy much of her day. "I'll see you when we get back." He told her.

"Yeah, have a good flight." The least Emily could do was be polite at this point. She waved them off and as the car drove away, Emily was alone, again.

When she returned to the apartment, Lucky was waiting in wait for her. "I've booked a flight, since Nik and Liz took the car, can you give me a ride?" He asked her.

"Yeah, no problem just let me get my purse." She told him. She turned towards the stairs and made sure she had everything she needed and returned downstairs.

Silently and perhaps a little awkward between them, they rode in quiet beyond the other cars sounds. Emily didn't want to talk and Lucky didn't know what to say but before he got out of the car he had to say a few things that had to be said, or at least suggested.

"Em, you really should come back to Port Charles briefly, I'm not saying you have to forgive Liz or Nik and ever talk to them ever again but there is obviously some unfinished business there." Lucky suggested to her.

"I know, I will, just when I'm ready to and know I can handle it." Emily responded.

Nodding and accepting that at this point, they said their goodbyes. He wondered as he sat on the plane waiting for it to take off what new crisis was going to be happening in Port Charles.

Elizabeth tired and weary sat on her bed trying to call Zander. He wasn't answering. She really did need to apologize to him for blowing up at him. Her job search was unsuccessful and what bugged her was that everyone was staring at her.

It was more than that though, mothers even pushed the children away from her sight as she passed, whispering that she was "a bad influence". It must be in the water though she determined and let it go but that was how the whole day went by, even got rejected from a place with a hiring sign. The lady's behavior was strange throughout the whole brief conversation.

Now though she really did need to get in contact with Zander and maybe Nikolas, to see if Lucky was back yet. She determined though she might as well continuing looking for a job. Maybe the newspaper had a couple advertisements.

As she made her way downstairs the phone rang. Running to get it from upstairs, she found it was Nikolas. "Nikolas I was going to call you. Is Lucky home yet?" She asked quickly.

"No, not yet, at least I don't think so, he certainly didn't call me for a ride from the airport." Nikolas answered.

"Maybe, hey, I got a question. Everyone has been acting weird today, or was it just me that saw that?" Liz didn't want to be the only one in any case, while she wasn't that aloof, she wasn't that observable either.

"Um, I think that was only to you Liz." Nikolas replied, not sure what to say more. What could you say at your friend making the front page? "But that's not why I called either way; did you happen to see the paper?" He asked finally.

"Not yet, I was just going to do that, to look at the job ads." Elizabeth told him. "Why is something the matter?" Nikolas was awfully quiet.

"Well….I can't really say but you might want to take a look at the front page. I don't know what it will mean to you exactly but I'm pretty sure it's going to have some bad implications." Nikolas explained and now Elizabeth was intrigued.

Liz paled and her throat ran dry. "Bad implications….how? Do I want to know?" She asked now getting the bad vibe Nikolas was giving out.

"Everyone else does now so you might as well." That cryptic talk finally got to her as she went down the stairs with the phone in her hands.

Getting to the kitchen, she stopped short. Putting the phone back to her ear, she pleaded to Nik, "Nikolas please tell me what I'm seeing is just a bad joke."

"Well, if you really weren't kissing a mob hit man on the docks, which is remarkably popular, while dating someone else and that it was made up on the computer, yes. But if it's true, and I'd say it's likely you just got voted the town slut and absolutely ruined your reputation not to mention your entire relationship with Zander."

Right then and there Elizabeth wanted the wooden floor to suck her up and never spit her out.

Author's notes: Hey, look I actually posted a chapter! Sorry, school's been pretty rough to me, cramming a semester class into technically 6 weeks-yeah, whoever thought that up should be ran over cause thats certainly how i'm feeling! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and know I'm trying but college professors are ruthless.


	17. Chapter 16

An angel wronged

Chapter 16

Not quite knowing what she was doing, Emily stood over her bed and looked over at her packed bag. She hated Lucky for it, but he was right, there was unfinished business she needed to take care of in Port Charles. That phone call she got earlier only increased the urgency.

She had no idea how long she would be there; then again she didn't have any idea what she was going do to either. Her doctor strongly insisted she not travel, that the best thing she could do was rest and hope it helps. She knew though, had felt it for a while, that it wouldn't.

Still it was hard to take; worrying about it and thinking so was bad enough but for it to be verified was difficult. She had no idea how to feel about it but all she knew was that before it happened, whenever that was, she wanted nothing left behind, nothing left unfinished.

So she sat up and placed her bag downstairs. Then she did something that was harder, something she had been putting off for the last two years. But as hard as it was, it had to be done. Sitting on the couch she pulled out her cell phone and looked over her list of numbers saved. Getting to the end, so she wouldn't chicken out she clicked it immediately.

Half hoping he wasn't there; Emily waited and froze momentarily when the person actually answered. "Zander? It's Emily…."

Annoyed, Elizabeth hung up her cell phone. "I know he's there." She told Nikolas as she sat across from him at the kitchen table.

"Maybe it's a good thing he isn't talking to you, I mean seriously Elizabeth what are you going to say to him? How are you going to explain you kissing another guy on the docks and making the front page for it? And I'm not talking a friendly kiss here, like between friends." Nikolas had seen the picture and it was far from friendly.

"Uh…I…" Elizabeth paused, seeing Nik's point. "That picture should have never made the paper."

"No, but see the thing is it's the docks, everybody goes there and everybody is a glutton for gossip and you gave it to them, for everyone to view. And that includes reporters, photographers, interested supporters, curious children…should I continue?" Nikolas suggested.

"I get the picture Nik and now I'm all alone again." Elizabeth told him.

"Something tells me Zander isn't going to sympathetic." Nikolas commented.

"No one will, much less my grandmother." She didn't even want to imagine what was going to happen there.

"Elizabeth, you are not some naïve teenager anymore, you are an adult expected to make wise decisions and deal with any responsibility they carry, you cant just hide out and claim age difference to get out of it. It doesn't work that way." Nikolas explained.

"I know, I know, stupid decisions have consequences, but you could be a little more sympathetic here Nik." Elizabeth argued.

"Uh, okay, I'm sorry you ruined your reputation, life and pretty much all prospective future relationships because you knew the docks was busy and full of photographers and decided to make a move on another guy while dating another." Nikolas tried.

"Never mind," Elizabeth grumbled as Nik's cell phone went off.

"Hey, Lucky, home yet?" Nikolas asked, Elizabeth listening to one end of the conversation. "Yeah, I can pick you up. I'll leave now." Hanging up Nik turned to Elizabeth.

"Lucky's at the airport I guess. I'm going to pick him up." He told her.

"With Emily?" She asked this was soon for Lucky who was all for pulling through the hard times to be back, so logically she assumed Emily came along…or maybe not.

"Uh, no I don't think so. Something tells me it didn't go as well as Lucky hoped either." Nikolas replied.

"Is anything?" Elizabeth asked pointedly.

"No, I'll see you." Nikolas said as he left. Elizabeth sat at the table and decided to try calling Zander again.

Waiting at the airport hours later, Zander didn't even look as his cell phone rang. He hadn't turned it off like he wanted to. What he felt or didn't feel for Emily, it didn't matter, and she still needed a ride. It was a common courtesy besides she promised answers.

He still couldn't believe she had called and more that she was stopping by in Port Charles. Emily no doubt changed, of that he had no doubt, but he still knew her well enough to know that something was up for her to do such an impulsive thing. But he didn't have privy enough to know of what it was. Maybe he didn't even want to know.

To say this was going to be an awkward meeting would be an understatement. Between exes, it's always hard but how they broke up? It was even harder; he didn't even know what she would look like anymore. She said so many things she would do when she was of age but they were young too, thought everything would be okay in the end. He had long heard she was walking though.

He was regretting agreeing to pick her up now but who knows maybe it would help. He had wanted to pack up and just get out of here for the last two years but something kept him here. He and Emily wouldn't have a chance anymore; they were too different now, back then though…he had learned that talking to her.

It was no time to look back though; there was plenty of time for that later. Coming back to reality, he looked to see a woman approaching him. Despite the many changes, he knew in his gut it was Emily even before she completely approached him.

She had grown taller, perhaps an inch or two, her hair was somewhat darker, complexion was a little pale but she always hand been…only makeup had hid that in the past. Her hair was shorter, maybe a little past her shoulders but for the most part looked healthy and she was indeed walking.

Emily stopped in front of him. "Uh…thanks for picking me up." She told him. She truly didn't expect much from him but this had to be done and she was through with hiding. But that didn't necessarily mean that this was going to be even close to a comfortable conversation.

"Yeah, no problem, common courtesy you know?" Zander replied and Emily would have smiled if she could. Zander didn't change at all, hard exterior and attitude but inside there was a good person. "Are you staying at the Quartermaine mansion?" He asked, hoping it would help the tension between them, at least somewhat.

"No, they don't know I'm here, no one does but you and I would like to keep it that way if you don't mind." Emily responded pointedly.

"If that is what you want, do you have a hotel reservation then?" Zander kept on with casual conversation…or tried to anyway.

"Yeah, um, could you take me there and we could talk when we get in the room. I don't imagine this is the kind of conversation your or I want to have in public." Emily was suddenly feeling very self-conscious.

"Yeah, good idea, come on." He said and he did as she asked, but couldn't help but smirk when she said her name. She actually did it, she dropped the Quartermaine name, and he truly didn't believe she would do that. The extra piercing on her ears and the tattoo she wanted was something but he knew the reserve she had over the name change.

After the man gave Emily the keys, she led him to her reserved room and he followed her in. They took a seat by the chair and made some small talk about each other's lives.

Emily did all she said she would when they were younger; she got two extra piercing on her ears and a tattoo of a Chinese symbol on her upper right arm.

"Does your family know anything of these things you have done Em?" He asked her.

"Um, not really, Monica and Alan I've mentioned it to but I don't actually think they took me serious. I didn't mention it to anyone else, except maybe Lucky, I'm not too sure." Emily explained.

"Guess Edward can't say much about it to you since you dropped the name." Zander commented.

"Yeah, I'm not sure if he knows that actually. I gave my parents the right to tell him about it but I couldn't tell you if they did." Emily stood up and went to the window and looked out. "I didn't do it for the longest time actually. I only did it about a couple months ago."

"Why's that?" Zander asked.

"I suppose I was in fear of all the possible consequences but then it just hit me that I couldn't do that. I couldn't live in fear because then I would miss all the opportunities in life. So then I marched to the right person and place, filled out the paperwork and got essentially my life back." Emily clarified.

Zander smiled, she hadn't changed as much as he thought after all. "Yeah, I know the fear. To be honest I have wanted to leave this place for the last two years but I never did."

"That is why I'm here then," Emily remarked as he looked to her. "You can't successfully move on if you don't have answers to what kept you here in the first place. Though I probably should have told you them much earlier." Emily still felt a little guilty about that.

"That's fine; I don't think I was ready to hear them earlier to be honest." Zander told her.

"Still, this is the present, what do you need to know?" Emily asked, pushing for some courage to get through this interrogation.

"Was there really another guy?" He asked first.

"No, there wasn't, not at first anyway, just a lot of guilt and feelings of keeping you tied down. I didn't even know if I was going to walk anymore, so…it was a confusing time, you have no idea how many times I questioned myself."

"Not at first?" He repeated he sensed there was a story there.

"There was this volunteer there that helped me, listened to me. I flirted, he flirted, and there was an attraction and then…" Emily paused and Zander sensed this.

"And then?" He continued.

"And then I met his wife and daughter. I swear I didn't have any idea; he wore no wedding ring at least. Told his wife he lost it…I felt so stupid and naive."

Zander decided to leave that question be and continued his questioning. As he got to his last one he was feeling better about the whole situation, now that everything was in the open.

"Not that I am complaining Em I really appreciate all your answers… but why now? Why not two months ago?" He asked.

This made Emily frown and turn away, her voice taking a somber voice. "I got a phone call. Last winter I contracted a bad cold that put me in the hospital. You know that my immune system has never been great, how the Quartermaines' fussed over even one sneeze?"

"Yeah, they seemed a bit obsessive when they did that when you didn't know why." Zander answered.

"It took me so long to get over it I went to see the doctor. I thought, feared that something was really wrong, it took weeks to get the results but then he called me this morning…" Emily stopped; it was still so hard to say.

He hated to pressure her but he had to know. "And said?"

"He confirmed my suspicion. I still don't know how to take it. He recommended I rest and hope it gets better, but it never does. Then it just hit me that nothing was working anymore, so essentially without a well working immune system…I'm as good as dead."

Author's note: Look! I updated! It's a miracle...well actually it was me avoiding homework that needs to be done if I want to pass my next chemistry test.


	18. Chapter 17

An angel wronged

Chapter 17

When Zander returned to his room he found Elizabeth waiting for him outside it. He approached it anyway, there was nothing she could do or say that could make him feel worse. After he and Emily finished their conversation, he had left for her to get some rest.

After Emily told him about her health situation, it became all clear to him. Life was too short to not live it up but yet go without regrets. This is what finally made him go, away from this town, from its civilians, and its troubles. He didn't need them, didn't want them.

Yet he didn't want to be seen off alone, so he requested Emily meet him. The thought of them being friends after all that happened wouldn't happen but neither did Emily nor he want that anyway. They just wanted to be placed on peaceful terms and now given the opportunity to move on with their lives, they had nothing holding them back. Him anyway, Emily's future was uncertain.

He hated to leave her in the situation she was in, felt he should do something more but knew Emily wanted to handle it on her own. Whether or not she could was debatable but he had lost all rights to ask that. It still made him feel bad though but knew that was how it had to be. It was one of those hard decisions you had to make.

Elizabeth stood straight and came from leaning on the wall when she saw him appear, trying to gain courage to face her problems. "Zander, we need to talk." She announced.

Zander stopped at his door and crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "So talk." He told her patiently.

"Here? In the hall?" She asked him. He couldn't be serious, could he?

"Yeah," He replied simply.

"Don't you think people will listen?" She was confused, seriously confused. Zander was cool and indifferent as usual but still liked his privacy.

"You already announced our relationship problems to the whole town Elizabeth through that front page picture, how is this any different?" He remarked. "This will just give them an update." He cocked his head and waited for her response.

"That should have never been published much less made the front page." Elizabeth defended.

"Ah, so this is the photographer's fault then?" He said sarcastically.

"Well, no." Elizabeth argued but understood where he could have gotten that.

"So who is legible for blame?" Zander responded.

"You know you're not making this any easier." Elizabeth snapped at him but he didn't do much than rise his eye brows. How she hated his neutrality sometimes.

"Should I make this easy?" He asked theoretically. "Let's reverse sides for a second here, say I was the one who was kissing another girl and it made the front page, would you make it easy for me?" Guaranteed he didn't see why he would grovel at her feet in the first place. She wasn't worth it and probably never would be.

Elizabeth bit her tongue. Zander had some very right on points today and how she hated him for it.

Zander rolled his eyes, annoyed but not angry, not anymore. This whole thing was just stupid and useless now. Besides for someone who wanted to talk so bad she sure had nothing to say. Deciding just to blow it off when the silence between them continued, Zander stood and went to unlock his door. If she had anything to say she would have said it by now. Talk about a pointless conversation and a waste of time.

"I thought we were talking." Elizabeth replied standing by him.

"I didn't say I wanted to talk Elizabeth, _you_ did and yet you said nothing important or even relating to our relationship, so obviously you didn't really want to talk. And you or I don't have all day for you to make up your mind as to what to say so…" Zander said as he opened his door and went in. He left the door open if Elizabeth wanted to come in though.

He went straight to the closet where he had a duffel bag. Searching through it he heard Elizabeth say "I'll just come back tomorrow".

"You can come around as much as you want tomorrow but I won't be here." He told her as he sat on his bed and thought of what to pack first. He didn't have that many things but still he needed to plan. This dictated organization while other things did not.

This took her off guard. "What? You are not going to be here?" She asked him. What did he mean by that?

He looked to Elizabeth, now really annoyed. "Did I stutter?" He answered. Was she deaf too? "Yes, I'm not going to be here." He said as he looked around the room for a brief overview.

"Why?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Because I don't like it here, I don't want to deal with this town's baggage and I suddenly realized life is too short to not do what you want to do and I want to go away." Zander explained.

"I didn't know you felt this way." Elizabeth responded.

"Elizabeth you don't even know my favorite color is despite the fact I wear it all the time. You never took the time to get to know me. All I was to you was a toy to make Morgan jealous and to keep you from wallowing in self pity because you were alone. Guess what? You're alone anyway." He informed her.

"You're dumping me?" Elizabeth asked.

"No, Elizabeth, I'm not dumping you, you dumped me the day you kissed Morgan. So congratulations Elizabeth you scared away another guy. I hope you are happy. You enjoy all that pity you are looking for but won't find."

"You don't have to be so cold about it." She murmured.

"Elizabeth, the only one here cold is you. It's all about you and manipulation of the opposite sex. You don't see anything beyond what you want; you lie to your friends, destroy your relationships without thought, and steal people's boyfriends out of it and then whine about the consequences later and then bathe in the pity you expect from others.

"The only thing you have is a cycle of self-destruction of all relationships. It's why you don't have many friends or boyfriends for that matter and you are thus alone. You want to sit here and blame me? Fine, go ahead but the same thing will happen to you again and again as long as you keep acting the way you are. Then you are going to wake up one day and learn your life is just one big fat cold lie and in the end that will be only one person's fault: yours, because you alienated everyone."

"I don't alienate anyone." Elizabeth argued, that wasn't true, so she told herself.

"Really? Do explain what happened with Emily then." He challenged her.

"Emily's…..something is wrong with her. She's changed." Elizabeth said vaguely.

"Ah, you mean she's not taking all your mistrust, pathetic lies, lacking of caring, and abandonment anymore. That, by the way, means she's jaded, not that something is wrong with her." He thought he should correct her though if she and Emily met again she would say the same thing.

"She used to take them just fine." Elizabeth argued then realized what she said.

"Let me tell you something about Emily no one ever saw or wanted to see. She was lonely her whole life and everybody had a habit of leaving her. She didn't have any siblings so she was alone, her father left her, and she watched her mother die and got adopted into an alien family."

"I know that stuff." Elizabeth remarked.

"Everything except that adopted thing yes but that was just on the surface. Did you ever care to analyze why she did what she did? Did you ever care to ask to how she really feels? Didn't you see her turn away and lie? You must have seen that at the least." Emily was not a strong liar there is no way denying that. Then again Elizabeth was just as bad.

"I…..Emily would have told us if she was feeling out of sorts." She used to be anyway, until recently.

"True, but did you ever care to ask anyway if she wasn't? Even if she blew off the idea she'd appreciate that you cared enough to ask but you never did that." Zander frowned. "The Emily you know…is just acting. She thinks that if she is forgiving enough and patient enough that people will change and regret their ways and she won't be alone anymore." Zander paused and contemplated the recent situation.

"At this point Emily probably realized that will never happen so she gave up and accepted that it wouldn't work. And thus…well she's as I said, jaded". Zander did not know how else to say it.

"I never saw any of that." Elizabeth admitted.

"Of course not, you only saw what you wanted to see, you aren't alone in that. I doubt Monica and Alan saw it. Emily's a better actress than people give her credit for. She may not pull off a good lie but she could probably act better than anybody in this town."

"Then why did you see it?" Elizabeth asked.

"I didn't care at first, that's why. When you do that you can read people well but all the citizens like you and Jason are too busy with their own drama that you see the surface and shut off any wider vision much less any attempt of indifference."

"You can be as busy as you want but you can not shut that vision down it is what makes you human, something people in this town have been missing for years."

"I am human." Elizabeth argued.

"Maybe you should show more concern then. People give you it, why not return it? You want pity Elizabeth? Give some in return and maybe you'll receive it back. When you were thinking about your and Emily's problems, what were you thinking? Were you thinking what did you do wrong or why Emily was doing what she was doing? In other words the world doesn't revolve around you Elizabeth.

"The basic rule is treat others like you want to be treated. Think of that the next time you treat someone like dirt or cheat on your next boyfriend because you are going to be treated the same way. If you keep lying, betraying and affecting others like you do you practically ask for others to treat you the same way." Zander explained.

Penthouse Towers:

When Jason approached his door, he heard the shuffling feet behind him before they spoke. "Mr. Morgan?"

Turning around he saw it was Sonny's guard who was on duty before and had recently got off. "I thought you might want to know a young woman went into your penthouse." He replied as he had Jason's attention.

"Why did you let her in?" He asked, with some anger in his tone. They are told not to let just anyone in his or especially Sonny's living places.

"She said her name was Emily sir. That is your sister's name right?" He swore it was anyway. New as he was, that was the basic information he was told to remember.

"Brown hair and eyes, around 5'7," Jason asked him.

"I'm not so sure about the height but brown hair and eyes yes." The guard replied. That certainly sounded like Emily and it was entirely possible she grew an inch or two in the last two years. But…why would she be here? Without telling him even? Did all those unrelated phone calls mean that much?

"Did she leave yet?" He asked.

"No but she said she'd be quick, that she had to get some of the things she left here previously." He answered.

Jason nodded that he heard and opened his door and stopped as he was facing his actual sister, a bag in hand. "Emily," He couldn't explain the relief he had that he had not previously acknowledged.

Studying her he saw that she had grew, practically as tall as him and she wasn't wearing her usual boots. Her hair was shorter and her brown hair somewhat lighter from what he remembered.

Emily didn't as much as flinch at his surprising tone of emotion. Jason almost was a robot, but not exactly one so emotion made their way somewhere in conversations. "Jason, I was just getting my left over things and I was going to go." She replied pleasantly more pleasant than she actually wanted. As much as his dismissal hurt and controlled their relationship, she still could remember something of a brother before.

"Why? You're my sister, your welcome to keep them here all you want." Why would she consider otherwise?

Emily's brows rose. Right sister….that was a laugh she hadn't been that for a while, not to AJ or Jason. Either way… "You may still consider me your sister but I no longer consider you my brother".

She said it but Jason couldn't believe it. "Now, please excuse me for wasting your time" She responded coolly to the silence that formed between the two of them and opened the door and left. He heard the elevator ring and then it stopped. Emily was gone.

Author's note: Look…another update! I hope to have another out this week but we'll just see. School may be on break and I am still unemployed but it's still the holidays. There are plenty of things to do with that to keep you busy.


	19. Chapter 18

An angel wronged

Chapter 18

Emily grimaced as she looked around the area. Once she knew this area like the back of her hand but last time that building hadn't been there either. Therefore, she was lost. And walking around as if she had no clue where she was going had no appeal whatsoever. The day was taking its toll on her as it was.

After Zander had left she tried getting rest but she was still restless so she came to end the Jason obstacle. And now she was tired physically and emotionally and all she wanted to do was rest but she couldn't. There's some irony for you.

She heard the footsteps behind her stop. She had heard them for a while and decided not to care. There was not anything he could say or do to change the way she feels but he could be helpful with directions.

"So….how do you get to first street now that new building is blocking the path that use to lead to it?" She asked him, her back turned.

"You have to go around the apartment building and through the scenic area the business built." Jason replied as Emily snorted at his directions.

"That's stupid." She remarked.

"It is," Jason agreed. "Is that where your hotel is?" He asked.

"Yeah," Emily said and turned around. "I guess I'll have to go back the way I came." She decided. She didn't want to but what other choice did she have?

"Do you think it is safe to walk back? It's getting kind of dark." Jason considered.

"I took a self-defense class last semester, I'm sure I'll be fine." Emily told him, confident she could take care of herself and wanting to get away from Jason..

"Nonetheless, I'll walk you there. During it we can discuss our last and rather quick meeting." Jason replied. She really did need to explain that, he was rather puzzled about it.

"What is there to discuss?" Emily questioned him; sure there was nothing to talk about.

"Oh I don't know the fact that you denounced me as your brother?" Jason said sarcastically. When did she get this stubborn? Or has she always been this stubborn he just hadn't been treated to it?

"And?" Emily commented simply.

Jason couldn't believe this. She was seriously taking that as nothing? If there was a time to shake some sense into her, this would be it. "Fine, let me rephrase, why did you denounce me as your brother?" Jason reassembled his plans. He can be just as stubborn as she could.

"Jason, seriously, how much did we talk the last two years or rather how many times I called you and you never called me back?" She challenged him.

"This is all about that," Jason had more information now but was just as puzzled as before.

"Yes it's all about that, why should I care if you don't?" She asked him.

"I do care, I'm just busy" He argued.

"No one is that busy. Besides I'm so sick of that excuse, everyone is always too busy for me. Why should you be any different?" Emily replied, the last part more to herself.

"I didn't think you would take a couple ignored calls seriously." Jason remarked.

"A couple? Is that what you call it?" Emily demanded angrily and then paused to calm down. It just wasn't worth it to be anything but neutral. "In any case, siblings talk to each other, not ignore each or the other- you and AJ being an exception."

"AJ cares too. He actually asked me if you called." Jason informed her.

"He only cares as long as he is guilt free." She had no doubt he did, knew his purpose in doing so. Leave it to someone else to be the one to find out what is "wrong". Skip the dirty work. How Jason got sucked up into it though was another question.

"Perhaps but I'm not AJ." Jason contradicted her response.

"No you are not but that still doesn't explain why you thought my calls were expendable." There was no way she was going to talk about AJ anymore. It would betray the neutrality rule she made for herself.

"When I received them I always meant to call you back." He told her.

"Meant to-that seems to be your favorite phrase. I can't count how many times you have said that to me even before I left for college. Everything else is more important than me isn't it?" Emily responded, letting anger get the better of her again.

"That's not true." Jason argued.

"Then tell me how it is Jason. Tell me why you continue to ignore my calls and refused to talk to me until now." He better have a good reason that was for sure, after all this time.

"You just weren't my top priority all those times. I just always expected you to be fine and responsible." Jason replied, being honest with her and him.

"I was fine and responsible but I was also lonely and abandoned by everyone. When I went away it was as if I didn't even exist in the first place." Emily accused the town residents.

"Everyone remembered you. You talk as if we all forgot about you." Jason disagreed.

"Remembering is not the same thing as communication and contact. Or lack of in my case." Of that she was positive.

"I can't speak for everyone else about that Emily and maybe I should have paid more attention to you but maybe you should let it go." Jason suggested, this wouldn't do in the long run.

"Let it go? Let it go? I've been doing that for years, hoping that people will learn from their lies, betrayals and selfishness. But that has never happened." So much for her neutrality rule, it was practically void at this point. Why did he have to say everything right on target to how she felt?

"Probably but what of your health? All this anger and bitterness has to be putting you under stress, who knows what kind of effects it will have on you." That had always been a consideration when it came to Emily.

"It's a little late for that." Emily remarked.

"What does that mean?" Jason asked, not sure how to take that. She couldn't mean…

"You know exactly what that means Jason." She responded and took a step to start her journey to her hotel. She needed to rest; she had to meet Zander early.

Jason grabbed her wrist to stop her and swung her around to look at him. "Emily," He stopped as he saw how pale she was. Maybe she could act like she wasn't as sick as she was but it was obvious that physically something was not right. "Maybe you should rest before you leave." He said to her.

Emily looked in Jason's eyes and saw the worry, which meant she might have been wrong somewhat, maybe he cared more than she thought and had a hard way of showing it but this was no time to show weakness in any case. She still had to make it back to the hotel, she had to remain strong.

"I'm fine." She reassured him and perhaps herself. She knows she is sick and accepted it, but didn't have the energy she used to and the last thing she wanted was pity. This just wouldn't do.

"Emily is that you?" A feminine voice asked behind Emily, interrupting her and Jason's argument, now over her health. She turned to see Elizabeth. She could answer but she wouldn't, just choosing to give her a glare that showed pure hate and loathing.

Jason subconsciously let go of her arm so she turned around and he lost his grip he had on her. Emily glared a few more seconds at Elizabeth and then straightened up, picking up her chin and walking away without a word to either Jason or Elizabeth.

Elizabeth looked to Jason. "Emily, she's so full of…hate." She had to search for a word and still didn't know if "hate" would cover it.

"She is but I guess it is no longer my business." Jason replied.

"How so?" She asked, confused

Jason shook his head. "Apparently I am no longer her brother." He said solemnly.

Elizabeth looked to Jason. Last she heard he was, legally anyway. But blood relations didn't matter to him. She shook her head also. "I don't understand."

"Me either," Jason told her. "Did you want something?" He asked.

"Um, it can wait until later." Jason looked crushed as it was from his previous conversation with Emily. She didn't need to crush him more.

"All right, I'll see you tomorrow." He responded and went into his building. This left Elizabeth in the cold but maybe she could try clear things up with Emily though she had a feeling she may regret doing so later.

Turning she ran to catch up with Emily who actually wasn't as far ahead as she thought. "Emily, wait up!" She called.

Emily heard Elizabeth but didn't falter in her steps, determined to concentrate on getting to the hotel. Unfortunately she was going rather slow due to lack of energy so that Elizabeth caught up quickly.

Her feet right in front of her, her head tall, and her back straight she continued without letting Elizabeth know anything. "So, you talked to Zander recently?" Elizabeth asked but the only answer she got was the wind blowing.

"You must have, he was sure he knew how you were feeling. I didn't really think you'd go straight to him first though, but that is a good thing considering he is leaving…which you probably also know." She said, mostly to herself she felt. Emily didn't even acknowledge that she was speaking. She was probably listening of course but decided the silent treatment would be better for whatever reason.

"You know, about the Zander and me thing…its over but maybe I should have told you about it. I guess I didn't trust you to take it well." Elizabeth babbled nervously while Emily had to keep herself from scoffing.

Elizabeth had told her about her relationship with Zander-through the change of topics whenever he brought up his name. Elizabeth thought she was too stupid to read through that and she was sadly mistaken, not that she would ever tell her of that. Elizabeth never did trust anyone and even though she couldn't lie, her whole life was a lie Elizabeth went around.

Her little fantasy of what should be played out because it was her and was convinced everyone bows to her fantasy. And then she would whine when someone didn't and she had to hear it. She thought Elizabeth would be over that though but in the end she hasn't changed a bit. She was still selfish, cold, and immature as always.

Why she thought that all would change she didn't know but then again when she was younger she was naïve and stupid and full of life. Now she was realistic, cynical, and alone as usual. That life was slipping away by the second and leading to death, where she would die alone. It would be nice to pass on with someone near though but that wouldn't happen and she just had to come to terms with that.

At this point Elizabeth's patience was at a minimum. Emily would never know how well this silent treatment method worked. "Emily, talk to me already! Please! We have to discuss this. We have to talk." She said desperately. Taking a breath and sighing, she continued to see Emily's back.

"I know you're angry but…" Elizabeth started and stopped as Emily stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around. When their eyes met, Elizabeth was shocked at how dark Emily's eyes were, filled with anger. She had never seen her past friend so livid and her stare so lethal.

"Angry? Does it look like I'm angry?" Emily asked her.

"Well, no, I'd say more royally ticked off." Elizabeth stuttered as she took a step back and tripped on a rock, falling on her derriere on the ground. "But it would be nice to talk and find out what is bothering you." Or so she said but didn't actually believe so, not in this condition. It could be quite dangerous.

"You want to talk? You want to know what is bothering me? You think I'm only angry? I am far from angry and you haven't seen anything yet. You, lucky, Nik, and the Quartermaines' have _never_ seen my temper's full potential and you have no idea what I can do when I reach it."

A/N: Credit to Evil but friendly rival for some dialogue and ideas near the end. Sorry for wait. On a side note, Emily has finally lost it, hasn't she? Hehe…I'm making the name evilcleo proud, aren't I? Until next chapter! Reviews are welcome but not absolutely necessary.


	20. Chapter 19 rewrite

An angel wronged

Chapter 19

_Previously…._

"_Angry? Does it look like I'm angry?" Emily asked her._

"_Well, no, I'd say more royally ticked off." Elizabeth stuttered as she took a step back and tripped on a rock, falling on her derriere on the ground. "But it would be nice to talk and find out what is bothering you." Or so she said but didn't actually believe so, not in this condition. It could be quite dangerous.  
_

_"You want to talk? You want to know what is bothering me? You think I'm only angry? I am far from angry and you haven't seen anything yet. You, lucky, Nik, and the Quartermaines' have never seen my temper's full potential and you have no idea what I can do when I reach it."_

Elizabeth started shaking with terror due to the fear and anger that was coming off her former best friend. Emily was right about that, though. She had never seen Emily like this; it was like she was a totally different person. She knew she was going to regret this. Why didn't she listen to her conscience?

Emily glared over Elizabeth who was still sitting on the ground. A sudden pain struck her in her middle but in her anger it was contained so it didn't show on her face. It made her want to kneel down to relieve the pain somehow but she resisted the urge. She couldn't show weakness, she finally had Elizabeth freaked out. If she kept this up, it was more likely she would stay away from her from now on.

"But today is your lucky day because I'm not going to do anything of the short. You aren't worth it and probably will never be. All you are is a whiny, selfish, spoiled brat who doesn't care about who you hurt when you betray, lie and cheat everyone else for your gain. All you would do is sit there and beg for mercy."

Elizabeth got up slowly. Scared or not, she would not take that insult even if the town would agree with Emily. "I can make a fist." She said and made one, which only made Emily laugh.

"That's it? That is your so 'great fist'. You couldn't hurt a Styrofoam cup with that much less a grown woman." Emily taunted Elizabeth.

"Ex-friends or not, you do not laugh at me!" Elizabeth sent her fist moving with what she thought was good force, which in the end didn't matter as Emily easily stopped it by blocking it with her right hand. Elizabeth's right hand stuck in Emily's right hand, laughing more, Emily commented "How weak."

Growing angry Elizabeth quickly tried using her other fist but Emily still easily blocked it with her other hand. At this point, both of Elizabeth's hands were caught in Emily's firmly. She was sure that second attempt at a punch would work; Emily's left hand just wasn't as agile at her right not that you could tell right now. The only way she could get any damage in was to trip Emily, Elizabeth determined which Emily foresaw and moved out of the way of Elizabeth's feet, which only led to Elizabeth falling on the ground again.

"Would you like to try humiliating yourself some more?" Emily responded. At this point, Elizabeth knew she had no way to beat Emily physically, who fought…well, too well for just her self defense class she had taken in college last semester for a general education credit.

"How did you learn to do that? I thought you couldn't fight." Elizabeth asked, ignoring her offer.

"It's not that I can't fight, it's just that I choose not to most the time." Emily told her. Usually she would think it could be talked out or it didn't need to come to violence, but recently she had found many exceptions to the rule.

"That still doesn't explain how you know how to." Elizabeth argued. Did Emily not tell them something all those years ago? At this point she wouldn't be surprised if she had kept something like this from them though. It was always said even best friends didn't know everything about each other. Everybody needed their little secrets.

"My father's family and my mother's family were all about the military. My mom and her sister Cory being exceptions." Emily answered her.

"You're a military brat?" Elizabeth asked, wanting clarification. Emily just didn't fit the profile of being one, until now when she showed she could kick some butt when she wanted to.

"What do you know? You're not as stupid as you look." Emily taunted her one last time and walked away and this time Elizabeth did nothing to stop her. Just got up her and decided to let it go for now, when she felt she could do anything about it. Starting a fight to get through to Emily definitely was out of the question though.

When they fought briefly Emily didn't do much more than block her attacks, which meant she was holding back. And holding back means she could do some real damage if pushed to it. She didn't stand a chance in such cases. She needed a new tactic.

Author's note: Short I know but admittedly, I am out of ideas for this chapter. Well…the story itself too. I know what I want to happen but I have no idea how to get there and work them in. Ideas welcome because I'm facing something of a writers block with this story now.

When you get the author alert anyway, the site is being a bit slow, isn't it? Whenever you get it at least, I mean it has to come eventually, right? We would hope, thanks for reading my dribble and remember ideas strongly needed if anyone wants an update sometime in the near future.


	21. Chapter 20

An Angel Wronged

Chapter 20

"Are you sure I can't do anything to help?" Zander asked Emily. As awkward as it was between them and after numerous times of convincing himself that Emily was capable of handling this on her own, his conscience still came rolling in.

Emily laughed lightly knowing his fight between confidence and conscience. "Yes, I need to do this on my own, for as long as I can at least. The best thing you can do is be happy and live. I don't care how you go about it, with or without a girlfriend, with useless job or useful job; I just want you to find happiness and fulfillment." Emily told him, knowing she can't dictate what he did anymore but she really did hope he would find another girl who made him happy and would love him unconditionally. The life she would never have (she was still working on the accepting thing still).

"I can do that." Zander told her. "But Emily, seriously, thanks."

"For what?" For making him waits for answers all this time? For putting him into tight situations when they were dating? For giving him more trouble than it was worth? She couldn't think of anything great she did for him. Despite her best efforts she could never be a good girlfriend.

"For saving me, you believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. You taught me I'm a worthy of living even with all the bad stuff I have done. You taught me that the whole world isn't as bad as I think if you just stay open minded to the possibilities." Zander replied. Maybe that was why he had trouble leaving her in the condition she was. She had helped him when he was in need and now he wanted to repay her back by helping when she was in need.

"Oh, well, you're welcome then." Emily answered.

He looked at his watch. It would be best to leave before everyone started leaving for work. "I should leave. Take care Em." Zander responded.

"Yeah, same to you," Emily said and watched as he drove away. Looking down and winding her hands together she pushed away the few tears that she allowed fall from her eyes. Not quite ready to go back to the hotel, Emily glanced around and decided to go to the catacombs for old time sake.

She remembered when she had first visited it. Her mother was alive, Lucky was carefree and she was actually happy for the longest time. That happiness died quickly after Lois and Ned's wedding when her mom finally took the turn for the worst but still to know she was happy even for that one short time, was good. It showed happiness could be obtained it was just difficult to reach.

Entering the catacombs, she touched a wooden wall and let herself explore. If she got lost so be it, she'd find her way out eventually. That was the secret of the catacombs that never got out, it was a maze and it could take hours to get out but there was always an exit you could find. If you wanted to come out at least, there were times she got lost purposely just so she didn't have to face the real world yet.

Going around in every direction, Emily successfully got herself lost but as she was about to turn a corner, regretted it immediately. Leaning against one of the walls, Lucky stood. She should have known he might be here but swore he was working these hours usually. Then she remembered that he had quit so he could find his true place in life.

She considered her options. One she could hurry by and hope he wouldn't see her, or she could back track quickly and go back the way she came. She decided the latter proposition was better but as soon as she did her footstep echoed, waking Lucky from his deep thinking. Yeah, that was just her luck, wasn't it?

Lucky considered the backside of the person and knew it had to be Emily. "So you are in Port Charles." He said simply.

Emily could deny it was her, it was just another above average tall brunette with her form, but he would recognize her voice anyway. So, it was just best to tell the truth, she would be found out either way. She turned around. "Yeah, well, someone told me the truth and I took them up on it." She muttered.

"Obviously, didn't think you would come here though. Thought you left the past behind." Lucky replied even though it was good to see her. It showed his words had at least an affect somewhere.

"Yeah, well, you have tried to do the same thing and did you succeed in it?" Emily asked him even though she knew the answer.

"No." Lucky admitted. "I didn't." He was straight back to where he was previously and he was not happy about that. "How long are you staying?" Better to concentrate on Emily even if it was not going to help his problems.

"Not sure, there are still many things I need to do while I am here." Emily responded, making no commitments or promises.

"I'm sure there is, does my name have anything to deal with these things you need to do?" Lucky questioned her. He doubted it; he saw her trying her options of turning back.

"Indirectly yes," Emily answered him honestly. A little too honestly perhaps as she saw Lucky's face.

"Indirectly," Lucky commented. "You thought you would just skip over the direct stuff?" He finished coolly. That was just a bit hard to accept. He knew everyone would change as they grew up but that was just cold.

"Yeah, I thought it would save a lot of time and discomfort." For her anyway, the last thing she needed was a lot of stress. Lot of good that plan did though. And it did sound a bit cold coming from Lucky. It was already said though so she couldn't do anything about it.

"That sure didn't work with Elizabeth." Lucky said, showing the tight contacts he still had with Elizabeth.

"No, it didn't, but Elizabeth is also weak minded and living in a perfect fantasy she has in her head." She was just a player that wouldn't be played in it; she denied the role Elizabeth designed for her. But that didn't mean she could deny that her indirect plan had failed miserably.

"You could forgive her you know." Lucky recommended. He had a feeling Emily knew this though.

"On my deathbed, perhaps I will." He didn't have to know that may be sooner than later.

"I was thinking earlier if the town had changed, or just you. I think it's just you and I can't say the change is good." Lucky told her, changing the subject somewhat due to lack of what to say on the former issue.

"I can say the same thing about the whole town Lucky. This town has a habit of making lousy and irresponsible adults. Must be the water," She concluded, as she had not drunk the water for years.

"You are right there. Michael is more mature than Carly and he's not even ten yet." Lucky agreed partly with her.

"I know. With my luck I'll probably run into them, guaranteed if Carly has suddenly cared about raising him. When I was a teenager I saw him more with his nanny than either Sonny or his mother." Emily sincerely doubted that changed though. The kids were just not her priority, rather her social life that consisted of making other people's lives unpleasant.

"It's still a rare thing catching them together." Lucky verified for her. "You are right when you said some things never change." This town just resisted the natural law, he guessed.

"There are some things you don't want to be right about." Emily replied truthfully.

"I know" Silence fell between the two of them but neither of them moved from their spots, neither leaving nor moving on. "You know some people envied you about leaving". Maybe he was one of those people; Lucky considered but didn't say that out loud.

"Anyone can leave whenever they want. It's called free will. They just have families and other relationships holding them back." Emily determined using common sense and logic.

"And the Quartermaine's aren't much of one." Lucky guessed, but supposed that went without saying.

"Not in this town, remember? The water," Emily reminded him.

"Right, the water," Lucky echoed and paused for a few seconds. "Emily, have you ever considered that the people you think don't care just have a hard time showing it?" He could name quite a few people who had that trouble himself.

"Yes, I have considered it but I also considered that if they did they had plenty of time to figure out how to show it and if they haven't by now, they never will." Emily figured, again with logic and common sense.

Lucky had to admit her logic was sound there. "You can rarely make someone care Emily. They care or they don't." That was something no one could change.

"I know that but it is also nice to know who cares and who doesn't so I don't waste any time on being around them if they don't want me to be there." Emily justified.

"You're right." Lucky, feeling and sensing that this conversation was over, looked to Emily. "I should-Emily, are you okay?" He walked closer to her as she had one hand on the wall and the other on her head all of a sudden. She was fine a few minutes ago.

"Yeah, fine, just a bit dizzy. Everything is fine." Emily reassured him with some success. Lucky still didn't look that convinced though. She'd have to work on being more convincing but right now that would do no good.

"Okay, well, just in case you aren't maybe we should get through here together. If you faint or pass out for some reason, it isn't good for you to be alone." Lucky suggested. He wanted it to be more than a suggestion, maybe a strong recommendation, but Emily was resisting him and everyone else as it was.

Emily fought this. On one hand, he was right, and on the other hand if she had another sudden pain like last night, she wouldn't be able to handle it and Lucky would visibly see her discomfort, maybe even her pain. But somehow knowing Lucky, if she fought him he would become even more suspicious. She'd just have to risk it.

"If you insist," Emily replied and stood up. They walked in silence and Emily was doing pretty well she thought even though she was losing quite a bit of energy. That was until another sharp pain was sent through her. Like she thought, she couldn't control it and she ended up on her knees, wishing the pain would go away.

Lucky kneeled next down to her. "I thought something was wrong. You don't get dizzy that often." Emily didn't say anything to that though which worried him. She was usually quick to fight concern with strong words, especially these days. Was it that really that bad, whatever it was?

"Em? Come on, say something and don't say you are fine, obviously you aren't." His voice revealed a small tremor and apparent worry. Emily didn't answer right away again, which really worried him. He started considering his options, because this wasn't a good sign at this point.

Emily had heard him and he was right but as the pain dispatched she began to breathe normally again. "You are right I am not fine. I guess I just skipped one too many meals." She told him. It wasn't a total lie; she was too tired to have dinner and was under jet lag so she couldn't eat lunch the previous day but Lucky still bought it nonetheless.

"That isn't healthy Em and you know it." Lucky responded to her problem. Though there was something in his gut that said it was more complicated than that. He didn't want to push her too hard though, not now anyway. She had a habit of making more distance between her and others if you did that recently.

"I know. I'll get something as soon as I get back to my hotel." Emily promised him. Hoping he would forget all this was out of the question, Lucky didn't do that, but she could try blaming outside resources for as long as she could. She'd have to make a list later and memorize it for as long as she was here.

"All right, come on. I'll take you there myself just to make sure you get there safely." Lucky replied, and would not take no for an answer either so Emily gave in. She had a severe lack of energy as it was.

"I'm not some damsel in distress you know." She retorted, though her present circumstances somewhat discredited that remark.

"I do know that and if you were you would be bad at it considering you don't readily accept help. Come on, let's get out of here." Lucky held out his hand, helping her up to her feet. "What hotel are you staying at? I have a hard time imaging it is the one the Quartermaine's own."

Author's note: Been a long time, huh? Schools been SO busy, but I'm sure everyone knows that. In any case, I really shouldn't have finished this chapter much less posted it, but I did. Celebrate! This story is more important than my homework and studying… for now.


	22. Chapter 21

An angel wronged

Chapter 21

Lucky sat on a chair across the room from where he was watching Emily eat some breakfast. Well, her eating habit, despite missing a few significant meals, was healthy enough. So obviously that wasn't the problem. So what was the problem she tried to cover up with the missing meals?

After they had gotten out of the Catacombs, he had driven her to the hotel. There had been no repeats of what happened in the maze though. That said there maybe missing a few meals was the problem, but then Emily's behavior discredited that. She would also never let him stay around this much unless she had wanted him to forget about what he saw in the Catacombs. Besides, her body has never reacted to missing a few meals like that before; as she often skipped meals as long as he had known her.

Lucky cracked a grin. They knew each other too well, had too much of a history. They guessed each other's behavior and then each figured out the appropriate action that would make each other less suspicious. It wasn't working for either of them.

"Should I even ask?" Emily asked him randomly. Lucky, as he heard this, quickly looked at her. He had zoned out on her and the situation.

"Huh? Ask what?" Lucky answered, apparently missing part of the conversation due to the depth of his thoughts.

Emily rolled her eyes, she'd have to. "Why you are looking at me so thoroughly, much less grinning?" She replied.

"Uh, I'm just thinking about, um, stuff." He muttered. He quickly criticized himself, yeah that was smooth.

"Stuff, like the stuff you probably have to do away from me or the stuff surrounding me?" Emily questioned his motives.

Yeah, they definitely knew each other too well. "About you, about what that sudden weakness was." He said, my as well be blunt. He did not have much else going for him.

"And you don't believe me that I'm fine, right?" Emily asked for clarification.

"No, are you going to tell me?" Lucky verified for her.

"No." Emily replied, just as blunt.

"Why?" Emily was so much more open during high school and that was what he was used to. He still did not fully realize the changes that had occurred in her.

"Because there is nothing to tell," Emily told him stubbornly.

"You usually say that when there is something to tell." Lucky remarked.

"I can say the same for you." Emily returned the favor.

"Em, seriously, as an old friend and former partner in crime, what's going on?" Usually he was up for Emily's games but today he was unusually uneasy.

Emily was saved from answering as his cell phone rang. Flipping opened his cell phone, he replied "yeah?" He gave Emily a narrowed look and continued his conversation. "Hey Nik" Another pause, "Eleven, Kelly's, okay. See you then." He hung up his phone and looked back to Emily.

"Lunch at Kelly's with your brother and his friend at eleven?" Emily asked, interpreting his quick conversation.

"She was your friend once too." That fourth left spot still left them all cold and yet the person wouldn't even fill it in when they were in town.

"At one point, yes," Emily agreed and then clarified her feelings on the matter, "but not anymore."

He took his coat from the chair he hanged it on and put it on. "I'm going to find out what's wrong with you Emily." Lucky promised.

"By what? Hacking in illegal files you aren't supposed to?" Emily supposed.

"By whatever method I want to use," Lucky informed her. He was determined to find the truth behind the catacomb incident. It wasn't one of the things he would let go. He owed it to his and Emily's friendship. Or at least what was left of it.

"Like I said, hacking into illegal files you aren't supposed to." Emily practically repeated her earlier statement.

"Do you have that little faith in me?" Lucky asked her.

"No, that's because I have too much faith in you." Emily knew he was going to succeed. She'd have to get everything done now and leave before he succeeded. That meant the next three days which was the average Lucky had when doing research.

Cracking a small smile Lucky left. Maybe Emily wasn't at a total loss, he realized. That gave him some hope from which he thought there was none in the beginning.

Sitting at Kelly's later across from Elizabeth and Nikolas, Lucky listened to their conversation.

"I just can't see it. Military children have more structure than Emily has." Nikolas denied what Elizabeth said, not being able to see it in his friend, or was it former friend? He did not know at this point.

"Emily probably has the structure Nik, she just denies it. Military brats are tightly controlled for the longest times, but when that is away what is left is a person wanting freedom from such structure. They don't listen to others, being indirectly taught to be leaders. For once in their life they can do what they want, not what is dictated. It holds so many possibilities that they forget to use logic sometimes." Lucky explained.

"You knew Emily was a military child?" Elizabeth asked Lucky, amazed that he never told them so before if he did. And, she supposed, Emily for that matter.

"No, I didn't, but I had a classmate in one of the elementary schools that I went to that was one. When in class and at home he didn't misbehave, he was almost too perfect but once recess or lunch came, you could easily see his wild side that he couldn't show any other time. While others strive to be as perfect as they can, military children strive not to be perfect when they don't have to be. I suppose it gets tiring." That was the only conclusion Lucky could figure out anyway.

"Well that certainly sounds like Emily, at least when she was a teenager." Nikolas replied but he had not seen her face to face recently, like it seems Lucky and Elizabeth has. When he did though, he expected it would not be pretty.

"I think that defines Emily now." Lucky stated.

"How so?" Nikolas asked it, though Elizabeth would have asked it if he did not have asked it first.

"She's sick of it all now. Emily grew a lot of tolerance with lying, cheating, bribing, and all that stuff. Now it's all just foaming at the brim." Lucky simply revealed the circumstances.

"Because it never stops," Elizabeth commented, fitting in the puzzle pieces.

"Yeah, how do you know?" Lucky asked Elizabeth had a habit of denying everything that wasn't perfect and relevant to her. This was new.

"Something Zander said. He said that Emily was sure if she just took it all we all would eventually learn that it causes more trouble than good." Elizabeth responded, replaying all that Zander said to her. It was all too true.

"Good in theory but not practice." Nikolas said. "No one has realized this."

"And now comes the consequences." Lucky stated. "Emily is royally ticked off at us all and ready to call war anytime." It looked bad from his point of view anyway.

"I think she's already unofficially called war. When I found Emily she was arguing with Jason. When she left he was crushed." Elizabeth mentioned.

"Crushed? Jason doesn't do emotions Elizabeth." Nikolas had seen this firsthand many times. It was kind of intimidating actually.

"No I know which was why I was surprised myself. But Emily doesn't want anything to do with Jason anymore. She practically denounced him as her brother." Elizabeth reported.

"I have a hard time believing that one." Nikolas argued. "She loves Jason." It seemed like a little too much sometimes, considering he unintentionally put her in danger. He knew Jason did his best though Nikolas had rights to judge for himself whether that was enough.

"I don't have a hard time believing that one." Lucky replied. "For as long as I can remember Emily was rarely a priority in him, but she didn't let that bother her. Said it was work, but years later of the continuous excuse, she started to take it personally." He had seen this two years ago, that she was on the edge on that relation but didn't act on it. Maybe he should have asked about it now that he thought about it.

"She's sick of not being important and continually pushed away." Nikolas added to Lucky's diagnosis.

"Yeah so she must have come to the conclusion that he didn't care and she just couldn't see it before." Elizabeth finished their line of thought. "So Emily needs to feel wanted?" Elizabeth figured.

"She just generally wants someone to care about someone other than themselves. So I guess feeling wanted is a start." Lucky certainly did not know what else to do.

"So…give Emily plenty of attention?" Nikolas asked him, looking for clarification of their battle plan. He felt like he would need it from the sounds of things.

"She might resist at first. Then again actions speak louder than words sometimes. If we even try maybe something will thaw." In theory of course, but eventually this maybe true. The hard part of it was having Emily stick around, she did say she had no idea how long she would stay. It may be short visit or it maybe longer. Lucky couldn't say.

"And what if that doesn't work?" Nikolas questioned him, still obviously skeptical of this whole thing. That didn't mean it wasn't useful though. He couldn't say at this point.

"If this doesn't work, we do as she has asked. Leave her alone." Lucky told them.

"Is that wise though?" Elizabeth asked.

"No, probably not," Lucky replied, as he remembered what happened in the catacombs. He shook that off for now. "But at that point she is too gone to be saved." He just hoped it didn't get that far.

"She seems too gone to be saved now." Nikolas commented.

"Well, if that is true, we have nothing to lose do we?" Elizabeth answered him. She highly doubted Emily could hate her even more than she does now.

Author's note: If any real military brats actually read this chapter and are offended, I'm sorry. I really have no idea how a military brat acts, so this is just all assumptions. If you feel the need to correct me, do so, but for the record I am not trying to be disrespectful. I readily admit that I am probably wrong about the whole thing. It was a story idea though and I had to run with it, at least see how it works. I wouldn't know otherwise. So I ask for the benefit of the doubt.


	23. Chapter 22

An angel wronged

Chapter 22

Emily knew she was risking everything being at the docks. She needed to come here though. She had always thought it represented hope, tranquility, and maybe even some piece of mind. The sound of water calmed, the continuous movement of the water gave hope, and that combined gave piece of mind. If the water continued, why couldn't she? If the water was calm why couldn't she be calm her? If the water was so sure of itself, why couldn't she be the same?

It didn't matter what or how it made her feel better, she just wanted some of that magic now. But she was getting nothing, absolutely nothing. All that supposed magic must have been in her imagination back then. That did not bode well for her but nothing these days did. She was starting to get use to it actually, so the lack of "magic" did not come as a big surprise.

She didn't know why she just waited for it to happen. A part of her said that she could just take it upon herself and be done with life. No further pain, no trouble, and especially no troublesome emotions. No cold and selfish people either. She had nothing to live for, so why didn't she just end it all? Her life would end in the near future anyway!

Because she was a coward, she concluded; a caring coward. She wanted to make others' lives easier by getting it all done before her time came. After all they did, it made her seem like a glutton for punishment. A part of that was lack of trust, but what did the others ever do to show she could trust them? She had trust issues, she had never denied that, but no one else helped those either by their actions.

She saw her reflection in the water with the moonlight up above helping the illumination. She was getting paler, her face now in a permanent frown, her eyes had bags underneath them and she felt her strength fading by the second. She knew she had to be strong to do everything that had to be done but if there was none in store, what could she do?

In the end it was just another unanswerable question. Her will was done. She had seen Justus earlier to change it, now it was only up to legal verification, which was no problem. She had ended her and Jason's relationship, if she could even call it that back then. She had all she wanted to say to Elizabeth and Zander. She couldn't care less if she didn't see Nikolas again. So what was holding her back?

That was one question she could answer: Lucky. She still truly wanted to embrace their friendship, wanted to confide in him, but she couldn't. She didn't know why but she just couldn't let herself. It must be her defenses; they were convinced he would only bring more hurt. It was hard to imagine she could be hurt anymore. That was all her life was from the beginning. It would be the same at the end too.

If she could only let go of the last thing she subconsciously held onto she could go with peace. How do you let go of your past though? There was a difference between moving on and letting go and as much as she tried she had only moved on. She needed to find a way but it wasn't like she could look it up on the internet. Then again if it was that simple more people would have done it by now.

Footsteps echoed on the wood of the deck floor, interrupting her thoughts. She had heard the footsteps long before they got close. She had just ignored them. Her luck was rotten anyway, so she fully expected it to be someone she had issues with. "I thought you were in town the way Liz and Lucky spoke." A male voice responded.

Emily did not even have to look up. She knew who it was by the sound of the voice. She had heard it too much in her life. It had a habit of saying negative things. Well, she was ready for them now. "Yeah, well, not everyone has to report to the prince first thing they arrive." Emily retorted, showing some snobbishness. She actually was not that snobbish; it just effectively worked when you wanted to scare off people. She was going for that affect now.

"You never cared that I was a prince before Emily." Nikolas frowned at his once friend that now resembled a stranger. He didn't think it was possible, of course it had crossed his mind, but he never thought it would happen. Emily just seemed like she wouldn't change that much. That was one of the many things he was wrong about.

"And neither do I now. In fact I don't care at all." Emily responded. She checked her emotions, yeah; they were pretty exhausted at this point. She didn't expect they would flare up at this encounter. She was thankful about that. She really could not control them for long, though she should be able to at this point. It was just another one of those things that she tried her best at but it wasn't enough. The world was full of those unfortunately.

"That's what I hear. You always cared before though." Nikolas remembered that clearly. When no one else cared, you could count on Emily caring at least. It was what made her a good friend. Now he didn't know what to expect from her. Then again Emily didn't even consider him a friend anymore. This was one complicated puzzle.

"And that got me where exactly?" Emily said, finally turning around to face him. As she has suspected, Nikolas didn't change at all. Who said some things never changed? His appearance was the same. Same color hair, same height, and same attitude. And here she thought Elizabeth was the only one to stay the same as her high school days. It made her sick.

"Nowhere apparently but that doesn't mean you can just give up." Nikolas argued and agreed at the same time. Emily really did not make much progress with the act of caring about others but she couldn't exactly just stop caring all together either. It would make her one of them, one of her "villains".

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't." Emily challenged him, giving him a slightly annoyed glare bordering on angry. There was actually no anger involved but while he had some good advice sometimes, this was among the worst. What a hypocrite! He was one of those people who gave advice but never took it for use himself. Therefore he was no example or good advice giver. So she would just ignore it, as she had many times before. It came naturally at this point.

"Your life," Nikolas said shortly. Surely that was important to her. No one wished her dead certainly. Not even Carly could do that. It was worth a try in any case.

"In case you haven't noticed, my life is a big disappointment." Emily informed him. Strategy shot down, Nikolas searched for another way to get through to her. He was running out of ideas but he invented a new one quickly out of pure luck. He only hoped it worked.

"Yeah, well, the only place you could go is up then." Nikolas tried the optimistic point of view. He could tell it wouldn't work the moment he said it as Emily's annoyance grew. Another strategy shot down, this whole circumstance did not bode well. He needed to scramble for more open ground.

"In theory or in practice," Emily asked skeptically, eyes narrow and angled to show an unidentifiable emotion. If there was any emotion anyway, he couldn't be sure there was any. She was just twitching like a robot having mechanical problems.

Nikolas realized that it was more theory, not reality quickly. He would have to backtrack again. He really had no luck today with words. "In theory or not, a life is important." He justified weakly and fully expected Emily to laugh in his face. He knew he would have if they had switched positions and Emily said that to him. It was something she would have said that in high school.

She didn't laugh, just continued looking at him with just the rose brows and the unreadable expression. Emotions weren't on her to do list, he guessed. "And since when have you started caring about my life?" Emily stated a question. She would probably be indifferent to whatever his answer would be though. He took his chances. He certainly had nothing to lose; she hated him as it was.

"Since Gia and I broke up. I realize she was keeping me back, not helping me forward." Nikolas responded and took a moment to realize that was widely said and not exactly original. Oh well, what could he do now? Backtracking didn't work in his favor today as it was. Emily only got more skeptical, he noted as her brow raised more.

Emily couldn't help rolling her eyes. She could see that years ago, long before she left. If she had said it though, it would just have been a big waste of time, as it would have gone straight through one ear through the other. "And am I supposed to feel sorry or sympathetic?" She supposed. If he was looking for that, he would have a better time with a wooden post. Or even perhaps a brick wall for that matter. It certainly resembled a solid and unyielding substance.

"No, I didn't think you would be but I have time for everybody else now." He replied weakly. If Emily had a sense of humor she would have laughed in his face as a taunt. But she didn't, so an informative reply would just have to do.

"And yet I have no time for you or this bull crap." Emily retorted. "Gia wasn't the problem Nikolas; you had time before if you would have just stood up to her." She told him, aiming to reveal one of his problems and extort it in her favor.

"I'm scared of conflict, I'll admit that." Nikolas said, "But there was other things going on." He argued, hating that she was right. Emily was practically saying he was a coward. At least she was saying it to his face though. He would have hated it if it had been behind his back.

"There are always other things going on. I thought you'd be use to that by now." Emily replied, with some more attitude. She watched Nikolas' face and saw that she was getting to him. Good, it would scare him away. Her plan was working perfectly. Finally! Something was going her way.

"I am but are you?" Nikolas asked, getting really tired of Emily's snotty attitude. His response did not affect Emily at all, not that he expected it to at this point. How were they to get through to her if she kept her defenses up so thick? It was practically impossible to talk to her anymore.

"That's a question for only a friend to ask." Emily said, ignoring it stubbornly. She continued to study Nikolas. He was so transparent. He would burst out of frustration within the next minute. She counted on it.

"You don't have any friends." Nikolas told her, expecting her to take it hard but she didn't. The way she answered it told she knew this and accepted it as if it was nothing.

"So I am not obligated to answer it am I?" Emily figured, though that comment did sting a bit. It was nothing though when compared to what was happening now with her health.

"Emily, stop pushing everyone else away! We want to help you." Nikolas shouted when his frustration was at its peak. Emily almost wanted to smile and took a quick glance at her watch. Okay, so she was off by five seconds but that was what she called an accurate prediction.

"You didn't want to help me before so why should I trust that you want to now?" Emily replied, knowing she had said something like this before in this conversation. She did that purposely, to lead the whole conversation like a never ending cycle. Nikolas fell into the trap easily. What a sucker.

Nikolas shook his head and admitted "I don't know how to talk to you anymore." It hurt to say it, but it was the truth. He really did not know how to talk to her anymore. And he figured that was the way she wanted it. That was the worst part. She was completely closed off, at least when it came to him.

"Then don't talk to me at all," Emily told him and walked away without another word. Nikolas shook his head, now down in the dumps. He never expected their first conversation to go well since she changed this much but he didn't think it would be that bad either. He had truly underestimated how time would affect Emily.

Nikolas just watched her walk away and gave a deep sigh. Lucky's plan wasn't working well at all. Everything they did just pushed her away more. She now took their caring as artificial. As far as they were concerned, they were only acting and it was almost impossible to convince her otherwise.

He called Lucky and told him this. "Lucky, the only people who can get through to her are ones she still has some trust in." That much was obvious, but now the question was who did she trust even slightly? He could only think of Lucky at this point.

"I know, but even those people really can't push without Emily getting angry." Lucky agreed but then found some negative implications to the statement as well. Emily was somewhat of a loose cannon these days.

"We can't exactly ignore her problems either, whatever they are." Nikolas replied. He couldn't see anything wrong with her, at least in the context Lucky talked. Attitude and trust problems yeah, but she seemed perfectly healthy to him. Guaranteed there wasn't much light out when he talked to her.

"No, we can't but the priority remains that I or someone else needs to build up more trust before pushing it." Lucky explained, but understood Nik's criticism as well. Problems aren't meant to be ignored, not that Elizabeth would ever learn that.

"And how long will that take Lucky?" Nikolas replied, always the impatient one. That was one of Nik's flaws. He liked miracle formulas that would give him the easy way out of things. But as long as he had that flaw, no miracle formula would show up.

"I don't know but I am looking for whatever is wrong. With it maybe I can push her to face it, and maybe accept someone else's help. It's worth a try Nik." That was Lucky's theory anyway, and it certainly worked before in the past.

"It's also our only chance Lucky; she has this intense hate that makes it impossible to get through to her. I don't even think she has seen the Quartermaines yet. Who knows how much pent up anger is against them. They give a whole new definition to dysfunctional." This coming from Nikolas, a Cassadine, said something. Although the Quartermaines' weren't cruel they could be harsh and tended to overlook one another. This led to only more problems.

"I know, Nik, which is why I have to work quickly. Emily knows I will find whatever is wrong with her and confront her with it. She doesn't want that, so she is going to do what she has to do while she is here in the next few days and then split." Lucky knew Emily knew how he thought and acted, so she would try beating his own schedule. It almost drove him nuts as they had grown that accustomed to each other. It also created some kind of unique bond between them.

"So, the Quartermaines are the next thing on her to do list?" Nikolas assumed, understanding his little brother's logic for once.

"Yeah, and I can only hope they are ready. Who knows what Emily is going to say or do?"

Author's note: I suppose I don't need to tell you what will be in the next chapter. It's actually quite obvious. Can't say when I will update again, because I actually really do need to concentrate on my homework.


	24. Chapter 23

An angel wronged

Chapter 23

Creaking open the front door as silent as she could, Emily slipped in the entrance of the Quartermaine mansion. There was all but a limo in the driveway so everyone must be out. She called the hospital and found out that both Alan and Monica had surgeries scheduled. Edward was in meetings all day, so AJ must be also. Ned was off on some trip to see Brooklyn. Tracy must be trying to ruin someone, from what she heard.

That only left Lila and Reginald the butler. Good, she was in the clear, for a few hours anyway. Hopefully what she has to do wouldn't last more than an hour or two. Then she could escape without speaking to any of them. She had a lot to say to them, but today wasn't the day for it.

She stood in the hall deciding if it was better to take the back stairs or the hall stairs. She took the hall stairs; if she took the back stairs it would just make her look suspicious. Besides if her footsteps were heard, it could be assumed someone else came back because they forgot something.

As she reached the main hallway, she looked to the left and quickly slipped into her room. She stood in the entrance and looked around the room. It meant nothing to her anymore, but she did have some important things here still. She'd just make a list of what can be given away to charity and take what was important to her.

First things first, she needed a box to place it in. She knows she had a couple in the closest, she remembered. She went there first, and found a small variety. She chose the biggest one there was. She really did not think that there would be that much, but it couldn't hurt to be safe. Besides, carrying two boxes did not sound like too much fun.

She looked up from where she was kneeling and saw her clothes hanging in the closet. She did not expect to find anything sentimental there, but she really did not wish to do this again. She went through them and found a few things that she held somewhat dear but in the end they were all clothes. She had plenty and she knew others needed them more.

The clothes in her dresser, what was left, was the same way. She looked toward the small pile of stuffed animals sitting on her window seat. That was the best part of the room she had always felt. There were so many memories there, that window as well. That was pretty infamous actually. She couldn't count how many people she let in through that, which was usually of the male gender.

Smiling slightly, she looked away and shook her head. That was exactly what was keeping her from accepting her fate. That was the root of her problem, which needed to be exterminated. Quickly she looked to the top of her dresser. She searched it and found a few things of interest and placed them in the box. She then returned to the closet and did the same thing, again finding some things of interest.

She then checked her night stands, which contained mostly books, and perhaps a few CD cases. She took a book or two, to read when she was having her down days. Then she turned to her final furniture piece: her desk. Usually she was quite organized but that desk was something that was considered an exception. Still, she had to face it.

The top was dusty, but pretty clean, holding the basic necessities. She opened one drawer and found a pile of papers. She put those in the bottom, as well as all the other papers. She'd go through them later. She had a special event planned when they would be put to good use. Two of her desk drawers turned out to have a bunch of miscellaneous stuff. She shifted through them and found nothing of consequence.

She picked up her box and put it on the bed and looked around her room. She knew there was something else she needed but she couldn't remember where she had placed it. She had taken it from the attic years ago and put it in a special spot. Now just to remember where it was.

Then it hit her. She went back to her closet and took a chair and climbed on it. She may have grown taller these last few years but she still could not reach it without help from a boost of some sort. She slid the secret door away and put her hand up and reached for her extra special possessions. She brought them down and back to the bed and placed them in the box.

She was surprised at how full it actually was when she looked at it. Right now was not the time for that though. She could go through it again later. Now was time to go. She would face the Quartermaine's later, when anger would care to show up. She had none today, just despair and misery. She just wanted to be alone today.

Picking up the box into her arms, she turned with one last glance at her bedroom. She scanned it and found the memories that came to her mind were now useless. She had to bury them, let them go, move on and accept her fate. They were not to mean anything anymore. Luckily, she had another plan to do that. That was tonight though, so they would stick around for a little while.

Giving a weak smile, she exited the room without another glance. She glided down the stairs and stopped when she hit the entrance hall. As more footsteps did the same from the kitchen Emily knew she was not alone anymore. She looked over and found a teenage boy coming from the kitchen.

She looked at her watch, seeing that it was almost time for high school to start. He would be heading out to it at this time. He was 5'5, and had sandy blond hair. He must be Dillion, Tracy's son. She had never met him face to face before, just saw a picture. Still, she wasn't going to say anything because she didn't know if he recognized her.

Now that she thought of it, she did not think she recognizes herself now. She analyzed the situation quickly and decided against striking a conversation. If he wanted to, so be it, she'd answer but she was not going to initiate it. She walked toward the door as if she never noted his presence or heard him coming.

As she was approaching the few stairs that led up to the door, he called out to her. "It's Emily, right?" Dillion asked behind her.

Emily turned around; unsurprised he actually started a conversation. Anyone would, giving the circumstances. "Yes, and you are Dillion right?" Emily answered with a question.

"Yeah, but I thought you were in California." Dillion replied, feeling he had his knowledge of his adopted cousin screwed up.

"I came for a short visit. I will be heading back there in another day or so." Emily responded.

"You came for a short visit and no one is here?" Dillion was confused. It was usually the other way around.

"Dillion, I know for a fact that you are not deaf. You must have heard of my strained relations with the Quartermaines'." Emily informed him and he remembered the many conversations that the Q's had about it.

"For the record, I don't have that much of a better relationship with the Quartermaines' either." Dillion didn't think that would help much but maybe it was of some coincidence.

"Somehow, I don't find that surprising." Emily replied and turned to him one last time, asking him to deliver a message. "Tell the Quartermaines' that I'll be back, will you? I have a lot of things to say to them. Today is just not the day to do it."

"Should I be present?" Dillion asked, her message secretly suggesting he not be around when she did come back.

"That's honestly up to you, but if you want my opinion: no." With that answer, Emily turned, opened the big wooden door, and exited what use to be her home.

Author's note: Kind of short I realize, but chapter 24 is much longer. Enjoy!


	25. Chapter 24

An angel wronged

Chapter 24

When she got back to her hotel room Emily took a short nap. After she woke up, she went and rented a car to use tonight. She placed the things she brought from the Quartermaine mansion on the hotel bed. She searched through it to find any pictures she had and placed them in a small, decorative square-like box.

After she ate dinner, she returned to her room to grab the box. She took it outside with her, set it in the rented car, and pulled out onto the road. She drove to the nearest natural beach and arrived just as the sun was setting. She found a good spot, away from any trees, and took a seat on the beach. The photo box was right next to her.

She took out some matches and made a large circle surrounded by stones. She then grabbed the sticks she had collected, though few they were, and stacked them inside the circle. She lit a match and put it to a large branch. The tree branch immediately lit on fire and the flame spread to the others as the sun was half way set.

She put the extra branches to the side for later use if necessary and waited for the flame to spread further. As she did, the sky was a light orange to a brown. A soft breeze blew and the tree branches swayed. Waves jumped up on the shore, transporting some sand and gravel down further down the shoreline.

As the fire came to a level she appreciated, she took the photo box from her side. She took a handful out and placed them before her. She glanced over them and decided which ones would be kept. All the pictures of Paige, her mom, stayed in the box. She had also saved a few pictures of the Quartermaines. One was when she was recently adopted and Jason was…well a medical student. He looked so young, so did AJ for that matter. Then again alcohol had not met him yet. She didn't have the heart to put it in the other pile.

She also saved her senior prom picture. She couldn't say why exactly but she knew it had to do with the fact that Zander had never really hurt her. They weren't made to last, but it was not his fault she couldn't be a good girlfriend. Maybe her parents were right about one thing; that forbidden love is overrated. She couldn't say if it was really love but it had been close.

She placed all the pictures she was saving back in the box and returned it to her side, away from the fire. As she looked up she saw that night was coming and that the sun was nearing its rest. She took the stack of pictures that would meet its destruction and placed them before her.

The only way she could move on was to forget the past and as long as she had these photos, it would remain. Well, there were those memories but the burning of past pictures was meant to be symbolic. She took the first picture off the stack and looked at it. It was of her and AJ. They were standing next to each other, his hand around her shoulder and they were smiling.

Without any regret she took a side of the photograph and put the other in the width of a flame. The photo caught on fire quickly and she placed it down and watched it burn until it was black dust. AJ had been a good older brother for so little time. She had never had one before and was only getting use to it when the alcohol interfered. Then Carly came into the picture, and the stupid rivalry between him and Jason blew into proportions.

She had never expected him to be perfect, but she had expected some common sense from him. All those times he showed promises to return to being a decent human being ended up in disappointment. It was only a trick to him, to see how bad he could be.

She is not saying that sometimes it was not needed, Alan and Monica really were not the best of parents; but he just blew that sometimes into almost always. He was never reliable, never earned her full trust. The only person that mattered to him and matters to him today is himself. So, she said goodbye to her eldest "brother".

The next picture she came upon was a picture of her and Juan. She threw that in the fire without another thought of mercy. Sure, she was young and lonely. Who wouldn't be after your best friend "died"? It was just another example when Elizabeth and Nikolas fell short of being friends. But that didn't mean he could play with her feelings.

She always had this thing for bad boys. It brought a touch of danger that made life worth living even though she did have this knack for getting into trouble without any male's help. In the beginning Juan had been someone who understood her, would support her but with time he only turned into an unlovable beast. They had a lot of problems, not the least being the Quartermaines', but that did not give him the right to make them worse. Flirting behind your back is bad enough, but in front of your face? That was downright stupidity.

So she said goodbye to her ex-boyfriend, who she will probably meet in that hot, fiery place below heaven and earth. The next picture she came upon was of Jason while her mother still lived. She put it back in the box; she wanted to remember him that way. He was insecure sure but held so much promise and then that was gone. All life left him and started working for Sonny.

Coincidentally, the next picture was of the weary and cold Jason. With some regret, she passed the photo along a flame. Just as before, it lit on fire and she watched it burn. She had tried to handle that Jason, tried to accept that things change, be the one who didn't mind it. She always liked differences but in the end he was too distant and that she couldn't handle. She just wanted something else from him. He said he would always be there for her and he was, just too far away for it to matter. So she bid adieu to him as the picture disappeared within the black.

The next picture she picked up showed her with Monica and Alan at her side. She tried to think of one thing they did that helped and ended up empty. She shook her head as the picture vanished into nothing significant. You would think by the third or fourth child (if counting Dawn) that they would learn from their mistakes.

Not liking their children's decisions was like an epidemic. Nothing she did pleased them. It became all too hard to take, even harder to trust them. Now, they act like she didn't even matter anymore. Just like everyone else. For once in her life she had a father, but he just turned out to be a big screw up. She would have been better off having no father.

Monica…she didn't know what to say about her actually. At times she really did put an effort to be a good parent, but most the time it was as if she was only a burden. She must think that taking her in was one of the worst mistakes she had made in her life. The only reason she did was to keep her promise to Paige. The one promise she had actually kept and it turned out to be a big lie.

She was done with that though. No more parents. She didn't have that much luck with them anyway. They either died or were complete fools when it came to childbearing. She kept the graduation picture of them together but burned the rest of the photos that contained Monica or Alan. Not even they could have ruined that day.

The next picture she came to was of Lois and Ned. She put it in the box, swearing she had put it in there. It wasn't Ned's fault she turned so jaded, not really. He was only an adoptive cousin. He didn't have the responsibility of taking care of her. Sure, he did a few favors for her and of that she was grateful but that was all that was expected from him.

Lois really had no relevance. She had no responsibility toward her; she was just an ex-cousin-in-law. Brooklyn was her responsibility. She had been there when needed though so she had no qualms with Lois. Though she had to admit she was kind of jealous. Lois got away from the family. Her own family was nuts but they were better than the Quartermaines'. Then again that was not a hard thing to be.

As she looked down again at the photo pile, she snorted. Unladylike maybe, but he really was a hypocrite. He was always saying that he had been a better parent. She had never met Tracy before but she was hardly the perfect daughter. Neither was Alan for that matter! She wondered what Edward would say when she told him Tracy was wanted in France for extortion and fraud and faced years of prison time if she ever stepped foot in France again. Yeah, he was a great father of an internationally known criminal and a doctor who didn't have an ounce of common sense in him.

Lila was right next to him. She had nothing against her grandmother. She had missed knowing the young Lila so she had no idea what effect she had on Tracy and Alan. Maybe she is the reason why Alan can be half decent if he wants to be. She didn't know, but she was truly sincere and caring. Even as old as she was she kept control. That was one regret she had. Lila wanted her to be like her, to keep the peace. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen but she chose to try and be that way. It just wasn't meant to be.

She came to the end to her family pictures as she kept the picture, for the sake of Lila only. It was one of the few pictures she had of her. As she put that away, she grimaced. Great, she came to Nikolas. She tried to think of one good thing about him and failed. Oh, at one point she may have been able to think of one, but those days were all a blur.

Yeah, she had fallen hard for him when he first came here. She thought he would be able to understand the life of a being the daughter of a rich family. He did try his best not to hurt her, of course, but was always so busy for himself. He was only around during crises. The in-betweens meant nothing. He was too busy chasing girls and going for his own gain at those times.

She had truly thought he changed during her later years of high school, had shown progress to doing so. For once had had cared, been there and then she left and he went back to his own ways. Gia was not the reason either. He had a choice but he didn't take it. She tried to ignore it the first few times, supposed it was only for a short time, a phase. It is always like that at the beginning of relationships.

She was only fooling herself. He had gone back to his own ways. She stopped being important, again. It was as if she never was. Then Lucky started convincing him something was wrong with her. Then suddenly he started to care again. But she wouldn't fall for that again, no way. He could go back to only caring for himself, he always would. That was fine for her as long as he left her out of his "phases".

She gave the photos of him and her a few more glances and then threw them in the fire. His smile faded, and she found peace again. He was a good friend, a crush at one time. That was over now and he was only a pest that stuck around to bug her. She was well over him and his issues. She turned back to her dwindling pile of pictures.

Elizabeth. She understood trying to fit in, had tried it many times herself but she didn't go out to screw up people's lives. Well, Elizabeth didn't mean to, she just had this self-destructive habit to bring everyone down with her. She never considered anyone else than herself. Like Nik, there was a time she cared but that was when she actually used her brain. Most the time it was as if it wasn't even there. She had only grown stupider as the years went by.

She gave brunettes a bad name. It was a good thing she wasn't a natural brunette. They had come to rough beginning and they were right back at it, Elizabeth was just horrible at it now. Unlike Nik she had changed for good, into a weak, selfish, dumb woman stuck in a huge cycle of destruction. It was why she was predictable; she had done what she has done a few times over again. At this point it was expected.

Like everyone else, she never expected her to be perfect. She had expected no one to be that way. The point was to learn from your mistakes, not repeat them! That was what really got to her. At one time, she was jealous of Elizabeth, she was allowed to ignore her problems before they got too big for her to handle. She never got that opportunity. Now she was happy of that though, because she is not the one who has those kind of issues.

Oh, she had her share of issues, but they weren't mountain size either. Serves Elizabeth right, let her continue to create a life of lies, deception, and ignorance. It will only hurt her further in the end. She almost laughed evilly as Elizabeth faded into the flames. Oh, she would be in hell too, of that she was certain.

Elizabeth was no more to her though. If she wanted to talk to her fine, she would just continue taunting and making fun of Elizabeth's many flaws. It's not her fault she never learned to back off. Then she got to her final photos. The first few were of her and Lucky. He had lied to her so many times, but he had been so supportive through most of her life.

The only thing she had against him was that he turned into his brother. Only caring when there was a crisis involved. She couldn't say whether or not that could change back. Lucky actually learned from his mistakes. She didn't have that kind of time though so she could only hope he would. Because she didn't have the heart, she put them back in the box and turned back to her last photo.

It was of the four musketeers at Kelly's. She moved to put it in the flames, showing just how much they were dead, when feet approached her. She really should consider burning those photos now. No one liked a stalker.

"You know Spencer; you have got a lot of nerve following me around like this." Emily said annoyed.

"I couldn't find you at your hotel." Lucky shrugged and sat next to her, much to her displeasure.

"Yeah, there was a reason for that." She really should have switched hotels but Lucky would have just searched again. So she stayed at the same one, and he found her anyway. It would have at least saved her some time though.

"Not even going to ask how I found you out here?" Lucky asked, expecting her to do so. She didn't though.

"Does it matter anymore? You are here." Emily replied, not feeling up to another discussion with Lucky. Maybe if she burned those pictures….no, he would just continue to stick around. She would get no gain from it.

"Are you going to burn that picture?" Lucky assumed, seeing that it was dangerously close to the flames of her fire.

"That was the plan before you decided to interrupt my pity party." Emily responded bitterly. "I don't know if you know the rules of a pity party but there is this important one that says the person who is doing the pitying, the hostess, does it alone."

Lucky ignored the attitude and the obvious dismissal and stayed on the photo topic. "That was a long time ago, was it not?" He told her, remembering he had one just like it in his box of photos. Which he hadn't looked into for years; actually he couldn't even remember where it was.

"Too long ago," Emily said shortly.

"Apparently, is that the last of our photos together?" Lucky presumed, seeing the burnt ashes of all the other pictures. It must have been one heck of a pity party.

Emily got sick of him ignoring the fact she wanted him to leave. Fine, she would just leave then. She slammed the photo into his hands. "Fine, if this photo means so much to you, then you keep it. I am done with it. I am done with you. I am done with your friends. I am nearly done with the Quartermaines' and most of all I am done with Port Charles itself."

With that she stood, grabbed the box of her remaining photos and walked back to her rental car. Lucky watched her as she did, in shock of her resolve. He looked at the wrinkled photo in his hand. They had promised to be there for each other, not forget about each other, and help each other when they were facing some hard times. They were to have an unbreakable relationship. They were supposed to trust each other with their lives. They also promised to never let one of them go astray. They might have broken those first few promises, but he was not going to break that last one.

As he stood up to yell across to her, Emily was speeding away as if demons were chasing her. He looked down at the photo again and folded it. He placed it in his pocket and went to get some water to put the fire out. That done, he returned to his own car and climbed in. He started it and pulled out onto the road.

One thing was certain though. He was not going to give up on Emily.


End file.
